Naruko
by Asakust
Summary: If the Konoha Twelve was in their opposite gender... what would have happened to the story? Major Detail Changes, OOC and AU. see better synopsis and notes inside. Story Two: Team Seven Edited: Chapter Story Two Part One
1. Introduction and Author's notes

_**Naruko**_

_**Disclaimer**_: I do not own Naruto.

_**Author's Note**_: This is a fan made retelling of Naruto. I've tinkered with the story and the characters a bit. The most obvious of it will be that all of Konoha Twelve are in their opposite genders. Partially Alternate Universe and Characters Out Of Characterness (yes, it's not really a word but…)! Each chapter succeeding this short and boring introduction page will be long and hopefully be written in a wonderful way that it can be read as a stand alone or consecutively with the other chapters. The main aim is to retell the whole story, with mostly minor alterations to the storyline and give each of the Konoha Twelve character depth and a chance to shine at the spotlight as the girl or boy the could have been instead. And practice my writing skills while having a rocking fun time doing it.

…

_**Introduction**_

_Long ago…__ the most powerful fox demon__"__the __Kyubi__ no Yoko__"__ appeared. The __Kyubi__ was a demon of pure malevolence. A single swipe of one of its nine tails caused mountains to crumble and raise tidal waves._

_The __Yondaime__Hokage__ sacrificed his life to seal the __Kyubi__ into the body of a new born baby girl. _

_Before sealing the __Kyubi__; it was the __Yondaime's__ last wish__ that child not to be viewed just as the monster's container, but as a hero who save the village from annihilation. This request, however, was not honored by the villagers of __Konoha__, who instead saw the child as the demon fox itself._

_And f__or what would probably be the res__t of her life… this young girl lived__ in fear, loneliness, sadness, bitterness and hate. Living an empty existence, devoid of another's acceptance, wishing only to become strong enough to leave it all behind…_

_The poor girl's name is __Uzumaki__Naruko__…_

…

_**Author's note: **_Yes it was the basic intro, with some altered facts to fit my story. Hardly worth the read because there's barely anything there right? Please excuse it… I'm trying to keep count of all my chapter views. That is why this dummy first chapter exists. If it's a little against the rules please pardon me. It only appears in my really long works.

So anyway… _Please read on and Review! __(Creative and Constructive Reviews would be greatly appreciated.)_

_**Author's note 2:**_ I've rewritten this intro a bit. Just to make it sound better.


	2. One : Naruko and Yōko

_**Naruko**_

_**Story One: Naruko…**_

In the hidden village of Konoha, peace reigned the land of fire… the forests that hide the village was as beautiful as it was plentiful. Even the village is an ever growing symbol of peace and power, its villagers live a prosperous life, the ninjas of Konoha are in great demand among the outside world and there seems nothing that the citizens of Konoha would find wanting.

Except, for a certain person to not exist…

On the way to Konoha's ninja academy, a blond girl of eleven years of age was making her way for another day of ninja training. She was late, but she didn't mind or care. She wanted to avoid as much contact with the grown-ups as possible, so she decided to take side streets, shady shortcuts and even stopping to hide in waiting for people to pass. It took her longer than usual this particular day, but she never or rarely took into account what made each day different. But eventually she reached Konoha's Ninja Academy.

She slowly slid the classroom door open by a few inches and immediately felt the desire to close it and run. Umino Iruka, her Academy Instructor had shot a glare at the door and looked right at her. "Naruko! You're late!" He yelled at her and points the book in his hand at her direction.

Panic and experience told her to open the door widely and apologize quickly. "Yes! I'm sorry!" the blonde girl face reddened as she bowed down deeply at her teacher in apology.

Iruka let out a deep sigh… disappointed that this particular student's punctually record was rivaling Kakashi's, the copy ninja, minus those stupid excuses that he tells that never seems to make sense. As usual the girl did not give an excuse; she just bowed in apology and kept her head down waiting for him to tell her otherwise.

He waved it off with a short hand gesture and told her to take her seat to which she instantly complies. She closed the door behind her and rushed towards her seat way in the back of the room. When she sat down however, a huge farting sound came from her seat… which caused most of the class laugh out loud at her expense. Embarrassed, Naruko only hung her head down and tried not to look at anyone.

Deep inside, she was angry… very angry. Her hands rolled into a fist, her nails nearly dug into the skin of her palms and her knuckles grew pale. Her body shook as she held her anger in. She knew who did it… she had caught the perpetrators of these pranks quite a few times before, but usually they succeeded and they never seem to grow tired of it. To get her mind off her anger she tried to imagine herself performing a jutsu, and with Henge no Jutsu being her favorite, she tries to imagine herself changing… transforming into different things and different people… and soon a weak smile found its way on her lips.

"That's enough!" Iruka yelled at the class forcing them to silence. To a degree, he felt sorry for the young girl and always helped her out within the limits of being her teacher… and that means to lecture the rest of the class for their behavior. But he was in a tight schedule today and decided to forego the sermon.

Their class goes smoothly… at least as smoothly as can be for a class full of eleven year old ninjas in training.

Hours later… Iruka was about to head home. The sun was about to set and he was beginning to get awfully hungry… which made him regret that he skipped lunch earlier that day. It was then that he heard a familiar sound. It was a multitude of shuriken and kunai hitting a wooden surface. Curious, he headed towards the sound and finds himself in the academy's target practice grounds.

He is surprised to find just one student there. He looked at her long blonde hair that nearly reached her waist, it was tied down six inches below her neck while her bangs were cut shorter and fell onto the side of her face hiding her ears. Her skin looked seemingly smooth and delicate which would make one almost think that she's never touched by the sun. And there were her soft blue eyes that held an emotion that was hard to read.

The girl wore a tattered and overly mended kimono that was a mix of different colors and fabrics. It had been freshly dirtied, not that it was unusual, a sign that she was either bullied or got into a fight… the latter of which would surprise Iruka, he just couldn't see the girl picking a fight any time soon. But his eyes hardened and grew cold at that thought, recalling what she was and what was inside of her.

Naruko felt the icy glare that was all too familiar to her, but it didn't mean she was immune to the fear and uneasiness it inflicted to her heart. She then threw her last kunai at the last target and missed miserably… but not surprisingly. There was something about that glare and her consciousness about it that made her fail at whatever she was doing. She took a deep breath and a nervous gulp to readied herself to face or run from who ever it was that was close by.

When she turned she was surprised to find that it was her class instructor. "… sensei." she muttered, never once feeling the right to call anyone by their names… not that she thinks anyone notices.

He walks towards her, and couldn't help but notice that she took a small step back at least twice before he was close enough to her to start a decent conversation. "Naruko, why are you still here?" He asked, trying not to sound strict.

The girl looks away before answering, "I was… practicing my aim." her voice was a little shaky and unsure. And with Iruka's experience with children, it told him that the girl was scared of him.

He turned his head and looked at the target dummies, all of her kunais and shurikens have hit their target perfectly. Except for one… the very one she was about to throw when he began watching her. He felt the need to hit himself hard somewhere. The Hokage had reminded him time and time again, that the girl was delicate and alone in this world. And unlike him or anyone else they know she is carried a great burden which was only made more difficult by the way the people around her treated her. She had grown to fear people, adults mostly… but the way the adults had been treating her are passed on to the children and now she had slowly grown to fear human contact. It was nothing short of a miracle she was still attending the ninja academy.

He decided to revise his approach and tried again. Using a calm and forcibly caring voice he said to her, "Naruko, You should head home; it's starting to get dark."

But to his surprise the girl answered him without looking at him or his direction… saying, "I have no home." Her voice was cold, solid and cheerless. It almost felt like a stab from an ice cold kunai.

He couldn't find any words to comfort her or convince her otherwise… or if he did, he didn't feel or believe he had the right to tell her. He was no better than everyone else. Part of him disliked her too, even though he knew and understood what she really was… a prison. But it was difficult to not be affected by the influence of others, which sometimes made him think that maybe even the girl hated herself.

Then as if pushed by fate his empty stomach grumbled, which to his surprised got a soft, short and muffled laugh from the girl. Usually his normal reaction such a response was to be embarrassed and maybe a slight bit angry, but oddly there was neither of the two emotions.

Naruko opened her mouth to try to apologize for laughing but was interrupted before she could begin.

"Now that was embarrassing." He claimed scratching the back of his head as he sheepishly laughed at himself- or at least at his stomach. He kept laughing and was glad that the girl's response was to it was to laugh herself.

He noted that the young girl's laughter was genuine, although it was a little on the soft and held back side. He could help but notice how good it felt to make this particular child smile. An idea suddenly popped into his head, he'll treat the girl to some dinner… sure the remainder of his salary could not possibly afford anything fancy but he figured the girl would probably appreciate the gesture.

"Hey, Naruko… after we clean this up lets go somewhere and I'll treat you to dinner." he suggested with a smile and started walking towards the target dummies to collect the blades that were sticking out of the bull's-eye markers.

"Eh… uh…" was what first came out of the girl's mouth. No one had offered to help her clean up and even more so offered to treat her to dinner… The only person that was ever kind to her was the Hokage, but all he did for her lately was drop by her house and give her some allowance… which she had never told him that she never spent, not that she believed anyone would sell her anything.

Iruka had taken out a few targets and had begun to notice that the blades of her shurikens and kunais had well maintained. Which was a big surprise; he had seen the shurikens and kunais of the rest of her classmates… and student batches before theirs. And it was based from experience that by this time of the year, their blades would be showing signs of rust or dullness. But hers were all very sharp, free from rust, although a little bit lighter than when it would have been first issued to her at the beginning of the academy and maybe just a tiny faction smaller.

Then it donned to him… his mind had actually missed or ignored the fact twice before, that the girl had near perfect aim. He began questioning himself as to why had she been barely passing her skill tests… was she doing it on purpose? Or was there a different cause? He made a note to himself that he needed to find out before her second take of academy's Genin exams in more than a week's time.

"Um… sensei…" Naruko meekly called his attention.

He turned his head to look at her. "Hmmm? What is it?" he asked, his voice trying to be playful.

The girl tried her best not to look at Iruka in the eyes for she feared the look that people give her as much as death itself. She puts her hands together, her fingers wrapping onto each other in an uneven mess, before nervously answering his question.

"Yo-you don't have to..." She paused to gather her courage. Willing her legs to move, she moves towards a target dummy farthest from where her teacher stood. "…pretend to be nice to me." she finished in a cold and saddened tone.

Iruka unknowingly gripped the kunai in his hand tighter. Her words had struck him deeper than any sword or offensive ninjutsu possibly could. Sure he wasn't completely pretending to be nice, but this little girl saw that tiny bit of doubt and hate in his heart and asked him to stop lying to her and himself.

His eyes were on the girl as she slowly pulled out the tiny blades from the wooden dummies, but were not exactly watching her or paying attention to what she did. Instead he was pondering her words… and would it be really so bad for someone to pretend to be nice to her? Or was there something he was missing? He absently continued the clean up while he pondered, but came up empty. And by the time the last kunai had been taken out of the last bull's eye, there was still nothing he could think off to reproach her words by even a little.

After handing her weapons back to her, he watches as she carefully repacked them into her tool pouch. Each shuriken placed dutifully in the order that he had always taught his students… the very same one that allowed easy access without wounding one's self with one's own weapon. It surprised him that Naruko, the very same clumsy Naruko that had failed his class once before and was nearly failing now, was a trainee with such a good aim and organization skills.

When the last shuriken had been set back in its place, Naruko closed her tool pouch and turned to her teacher. Without looking at him, she gives him her gratitude for helping her clean up before turning and starting to walk away.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Iruka asked and took note of the way the blond girl looked worriedly startled when he called her using even the slightness of strong tones.

He watched as she meekly turned her head towards him and said, "To my house." in the softest of voices.

It stunned him that even in that situation she wouldn't simply say "I'm going home." or "home." which made him wonder how far have they, the citizens of Konoha, pushed this girl away for her not to even consider the small private space that she lives in as her home.

There was an awkward pause between them. Iruka was at a lost; he had no idea how to gain the girl's trust. Naruko on the other hand was already beginning to imagine a brutally long, torturous and frightening death. And when the silence lasted longer than Naruko found comfortable she decided it was time to say something and get going. "Go…go-goodbye sensei." her voice nervously shook with each syllable.

She started to turn away and began her departure. It was then that Iruka caught himself and literally caught Naruko by her shoulder. The tremble of fear that shot through her whole body didn't escape his notice. He however decides not to let go just yet and gently motions her to face him, which to his relief she had let him do.

"Listen, Naruko." His voice serious and lecturing made Naruko feel at ease… if even for a little bit. She was used to that voice, it being the only adult voice that she hears nearly on a daily basis. But more importantly the professional tone used for teaching felt almost neutral to her carrying neither hate nor anger, it made listening to him bearable enough. Her head turned to look at his face but Iruka knew that her eyes were gazing farther away.

He tried to smile, but the realization of everything the people had and had not done to her prevented him from succeeding. "Look… I'm sorry for pretending to be nice. If you had found that insulting in anyway… then I apologize."

He was surprised when he noticed that even for a few seconds she had actually looked at him and not started to whatever it was she tried to look at far behind his head. Then to further add to his surprise she nodded, it was a small nod… but oddly he felt a tiny bit good inside from that. He decided to continue and ask her to join him for some dinner. "I really did mean to treat you for dinner."

Her response was even more surprising. "You don't have to."

It was quite challenging getting through the head of the blonde girl. But he felt himself smiling at her response. It was… refreshing, she was refreshing. And a part of his mind had noted that had this girl been five to seven years older, it would look like she's trying to get away from someone trying to take her out on a date… and if so, so far she would be doing a good job.

He shook his head lightly and slowly, "No, I don't… but I want to." his voice sounding a little too smooth for a conversation with a child, that he had to mentally hit himself.

Again, he noticed that she was looking at him and this time her eyes didn't return to what ever it was they were trying to see behind his head. He watched as her blue eyes, the color of a clear noon sky, pierced into his soul as if seeking something.

She wondered why her teacher wanted to treat her to dinner so badly. But her mind couldn't grasp any ideas as to why, none of them that were actually nice at least. In all honesty she didn't want to go… But against her better judgment she gave him the briefest of nods before she looked away and said, "Okay."

Minutes later… she was already regretting that she had agreed to have dinner with her teacher if and only because she was forced to walk with him in the middle of busy streets and the eyes of every adult that they passed were on her. She kept her head down; her bangs shielding her eyes, her hands curling into fists hidden beneath the long sleeves of her kimono and her teeth gritted at each other behind her lips. And by the time Iruka noticed her reaction to the swarm of people they had and will be passing… it was too late. All he could do was note and remind himself not to lead her anywhere with a lot of people again.

They reached a small humble Ramen stall called Ichiraku, it was a small home owned restaurant in a quiet and not so populated area of town. Considering that Naruko didn't like crowds this was the best place for him to bring her… and the only place he could afford to treat her.

"Wel… Ah! Iruka-sensei! Welcome back!" Teuchi, the owner of the ramen stall, happily greeted him.

"Thank you." he replied before taking the second to the last seat of the left side of the stall, thinking ahead that Naruko might want to sit at the corner so that she wouldn't be seen much by other people with him to block a good deal their view. He turns to her and pats the seat beside him, "What are you waiting for…" he stated playfully… and hoped that his tone wouldn't scare her off.

"Oh… yes…" the blond slowly sat down and anxiously looked around appearing obviously unsure of what to do.

"Oh!? Who do we have here?" the ramen stall owner looked at Naruko with interest, to which the blond shyly wanted to sneak away from. "You didn't tell me you had a daughter." he jestingly said to the brown haired Chuunin.

Iruka rolled his eyes, "That's because I don't. This is Uzumaki Naruko one of my students in the Ninja Academy." he said as he playfully patted the girl's head.

Teuchi just laughed out loud and amusingly apologized to the girl for jumping to conclusions, the told Iruka that he just seemed like the fatherly type.

Iruka turns to Naruko and pointed at the wall behind Teuchi where a few pieces of wood that had the names of the items being sold in the stall had been listed. "The menu is over there choose anything you like."

The blonde silently examined all the items listed in their menu. And after five minutes she turns to him again, "…sensei." and calls him weakly.

"What is it?" He surprised himself when his voice sounded naturally nice, almost like he was talking to his own child or something.

The girl the floors both men with a question that neither had ever thought they would ever be asked, "What is ramen?"

A loud gasp comes from Teuchi on the outer side of the counter who now had his mouth a gape, his squinty eyes were worn in a way that made one realize he still had eyes and his hands were scratching his head in disbelief. "Oh! OH! That is serious! Someone who doesn't know what ramen is!..."

He suddenly turned away and began to get to work, deciding that the best way to explain what ramen is to the young girl was to feed her one. He chose one the best in his items in his menu and immediately prepares the dish for the young blond to sample. He was done nearly in record time and the noodles, the toppings and the broth were all at their ideal. He then gently slid the bowl in front of the girl and said, "Here you go! The House Special!"

Naruko had to cover her mouth to hide the fact that her mouth had began to water. The ramen in front of her looked far more complicated that her meals of fresh fruits, grilled fish, vegetable soup or random stews. She takes a pair of chopsticks, which was actually two pairs of chopsticks, and was about to start eating when…

"Wait!" Teuchi almost yelled, which received a very nervous squeak from the blond girl.

He takes the chopsticks from her hands. And before Naruko can sulk and curse the man, he calls her attention again… "It'll be easier to eat if you do this…" he then pulled the wood from each other creating a thinner pair of wooden sticks. He hands her the other unbroken pair back and smiles.

She looked at him, then the chopsticks, then at Iruka who nodded at her with an awkward smile, then back at the chopsticks. Then following the stall owner's instruction, she pulls the undivided chopsticks apart producing another pair of chopsticks. She smiles to herself and began to take a taste of the food served to her.

Iruka and Teuchi watched with anticipation, and probably fascination as well, as she took in her first small mouth full of noodles. They watched as her eyes seemed awed and happy and a small delighted smile crept up her lip while she chewed.

"How is it?" Teuchi asked, almost excitedly, his smile quite wide and proud.

Naruko shyly looked down at her bowl before she softly muttered, "It's delicious…"

The ramen cook puffed his chest out proudly and gave out a heartily proud laugh. "Of course it is! It's the best Ramen in Konohagakure!"

And to his credit Iruka supported his claim, saying that if it wasn't for the location and the store size he was sure to have more customers. Teuchi only laughed at the Chuunin's comment, because it was true. But then he said, that he was perfectly happy having a small amount of customers. He loved to watch their faces brighten up with as smile when they're ate his cooking and that to him was more important than making a lot of money.

Then to the surprise of both adults Naruko adds, "…it's a lot better than roasted snakes."

The two men looked at the girl, with a surprised and almost stupid look on their faces. And both of them muttered, "Eh?" nearly at the same time.

"You don't eat snakes… …sensei?" the blond asked quite boldly compared to the way she spoke earlier, but made sure to keep her teacher's name silently muttered by her mouth.

Iruka let out an audible gulp before making his reply. "I have but… only during missions." Then before he could properly think about it he asked, "And you…?"

Naruko smiled; surprised that she felt happy that her teacher had asked that with genuine interest. "Almost everyday, since I learned how to catch them with a kunai."

The two men paled and looked at each other as if to ask each other, "Is that true?" with their eyes.

The blond continues to eat her ramen she noticed that Iruka has yet to order. "…sensei. Aren't you eating?" she asked guiltily and hoped that he wasn't spending his dinner money on her ramen.

Iruka looks at her student for a second with bewilderment at first, "What?... Oh yeah!" he then looks at Teuchi and orders the same that dish his student was having.

The two ate in silence for a while. Iruka would sometimes take a peek from the corner of his eye and watch his student eat; he noted that she ate slowly, gracefully and quite femininely… for a girl who had no parents to teach her how to be a girl. And come to think of it… despite how tattered her clothes seemed, they were very feminine. He recalls how good natured she is in class, how patient she is towards the pranks of her classmates and how hard working she is… and couldn't help but smile at how well she brought herself up despite how the people of Konoha viewed and treated her over the years.

Naruko had known he was looking at her, but this time his gaze didn't feel as icy… and against her best decision she had allowed him to look at her for more longer than it was normally comfortable.

"Naruko." Iruka called her attention with his nearly neutral lecturing voice, to which he unconsciously knew the blond girl responded best to. He watched as she finished the last bite that she had taken before slowly turning her head towards him. Then he asked, "Why do you want to be a ninja?"

It was a question that he had asked a lot of people, his comrades and his students alike. From experience everyone he had asked this brightens up and feels proud then answers him. But it wasn't in this girl's case…

She just looked at him, the gaze from her eyes slowly felt as cold as ice, and for a moment he believed that he knew exactly how she feels when people looked at her. Her eyes that had been starting at his looked away just before she answered, "I want to be strong."

Her voice was icy cold… and it was in the tone that stuck fear to even the strongest and battle hardened of ninjas. For a moment, kindness and laughter had been forgotten… Naruko's mind recalled the hardships and indifference that the village of Konoha had been to her. She hated it, all her life… she had been nurturing that hate although not intentionally… but it grew along side her fear of the people and the hate that she felt from their eyes fed her own.

Iruka decided not to dive deep on the subject for now. He might need to talk to the Hokage later about her, hopefully to get even a tiny bit of insight on how to deal with her. And although he knew she was sensitive to people lying he decided to say, "That's a good dream." and praised her for working hard at it. But just at he expected she doesn't believe him… but to his relief instead of saying something she just started eating again.

His gaze on her softened, but inside he was beginning to hate himself again and maybe… even if just a little, he hated the people of Konoha too.

They finished their ramen nearly at the same time, mostly because Iruka had paced his eating with hers. He paid for the ramen and bade the ramen stall's owner a goodnight. To his surprise… Teuchi turned to his student and said, "Naruko-chan, come back again ok!? You're always welcome here."

Naruko let out the smallest of gasps. She felt something warm inside her chest that couldn't compare to the warmth of a good fire or a good soup… it felt good to say the least. She fought back a tear in her eye, nodded shyly at the middle aged ramen cook, smiled and said, "Arigatou." in a way that sounded more than just words.

And before Teuchi and Iruka could do or say anything, she vanishes with the wind leaving two bewildered.

"Hoho! You have an impressive student there Iruka!" Teuchi said as he recovered. He gave Iruka a big slap on the back playfully praising the young instructor. "You don't see many kids her age these days that can vanish like that." he added before throwing in a hearty prideful laugh.

"Ah… yeah" Iruka could only nod and agree. It was true that they don't see many young Genins nowadays that vanish like a Jounin or experience Chuunin. But that wasn't why he was surprised… rather he was surprised that she was actually that good, while her academic record kept on a hard claim stating otherwise.

He really needed to see the Hokage someday soon.

A few days later, it was as if his time with the blond girl had not happened. The girl was as evasive of him as ever and answered his questions, the academic ones, as bad as she always had… which baffled him terribly. She was still the target of most of the pranks the meaner students did, but this time he did his best to give them a sterner lecture… even if it meant seeming like he was playing favorites a little.

He later learned that Naruko would sometimes eat dinner at Ichiraku from time to time. Sampling a different bowl of ramen each time she came to visit. Teuchi would tell him that Naruko had asked if he could cook ramen with snakes and rabbits, he said that he had told her that he could try but no one sells snake and rabbits. To his surprise, Naruko had offered to hunt them... then laughed at himself when he remembered that she had said she ate roasted snakes nearly everyday.

A week later, the Genin exam passed… and Naruko had failed miserably. Iruka remembered just how pitiful her bunshins looked when she created them… and although you can tell that the clones still looked like her; both were badly discolored, looked terribly fatigued and didn't even move an inch. In other words her clones had been useless and sadly he had to fail her again, despite instances where she seemed more skilled that any Genin he had seen. The girl looked depressed but didn't argue. He wanted to give her some sort of test before the exam, because there had to be something wrong when a skilled and hardworking trainee like her fails, but there had simply been no chance for him to do so.

He marches over to the Hokage's mansion, office and Konoha's ninja headquarters. He had gathered a lot of notes from observing the blond girl and was ready to hear the Sandaime Hokage's opinion on the matter. When he got there, he was a speck surprised that the Hokage had already driven his attendants away. "Iruka. What brings you here?"

He hesitated for a moment, but reminded himself that if anyone actually had care for the young girl it would be the Sandaime. He raises his eyes towards the old man who was garbed in white and red robes. "I wanted to talk about Uzumaki Naruko, Hokage-sama." he replied, with a hint of indecision in his voice.

The old man's lips folded into a sad smile. "It's surprising isn't it? I had actually expected the girl to grow up differently..."

"How so?" Iruka asked, very curious as to how he saw his seemingly inept student.

"Honestly?..." the old ninja asked, and waited for Iruka's to nod or affirmative response before continuing. "I expected her to grow up somewhat like you… maybe a little worse."

"Eh?" the teacher was baffled.

The old man gave him weak smile. "You and Naruko… grew up without a parent's love." Sarutobi's eyes focused on his and appeared grim. "Naruko probably doesn't even know what it means to have parents… and I can only imagine what she thinks about love."

Iruka was silenced… he had nothing to add or retort to the Hokage's statement.

The look from the old Hokage's eyes grew softer. "But I'm very impressed with the way she's growing up."

Iruka nodded.

Sarutobi walked over to the window of his office and looked out towards where Naruko's house, a small place that had the necessities and a vegetable small garden, located near the outskirts of the city. "So… what was it did you come to talk about?"

"Huh? Oh… right." the brown haired teacher cleared his throat and asked, "Did you know that Naruko actually has the skills to make an exemplary ninja?"

The old man's smile widened at Iruka's words, but kept his eyes towards the direction of Naruko's home. "Yes… I knew."

"Eh?" the Chuunin was quite surprised, he knew that the old Hokage cared for the girl in some degree… but he had not expected him to have paid her much attention either.

Turning towards him the old man asked, "When did you notice?" Iruka's response was to tell him his observations of the past week and reported that for the second time… the girl had failed to reach Genin status.

"That is unfortunate…" said Sarutobi, frowning at the news of her failure.

Before he could say anymore Iruka decided to ask, "Do you have any idea as to why she keeps failing?"

In his mind the Chuunin Teacher ran through his suspicions. Most of them sounded sinister and seemed plausible when thought of and done by a Kitsune, a trickster spirit, and sealed inside the girl was the strongest of all of them… the "Kyubi no Yoko". Who was to tell them how much the demonic creature has influenced the child.

But then the Hokage gave him an answer that made him forget his all ridiculous theories. He told him that, "She's afraid."

The Hokage explained to him that Naruko's fear of people had rooted deep in her heart. The anger and hatred that people send towards her, prevent her from showing people how skilled and strong she is. For the girl had taken the lessons to becoming a ninja to heart and had decided to slowly grow stronger without people seeing it. But that was only part of the truth. He then adds that there must be some other reason in addition to what he has said that keeps her down.

"Iruka, have you heard of this before?"

"Heard of what? Hokage-sama."

"That when a person hates another and doesn't acknowledge the other's existence… his gaze feels terribly cold to the other." Sarutobi said grimly.

Once again… the cold blade of guilt had slashed into Iruka's heart. He recalled the moment that the girl had thrown the last kunai at the dummy before he approached her… he clearly remembered how badly the kunai went of target as compared to the rest of the other projectiles thrown prior it and then there was the pained she looked she had in a crowd and in class. It made his heart sink to know that he was part of it.

A little over two weeks, a batch new class of ninja in training arrived at the academy. Iruka wasn't surprised to learn that in his class once again was Naruko. But what he was surprised about was that he did not feel the anger and hate that he once had for her.

A first, like the past times she attended the academy she kept to herself… but as the days passed, Iruka noticed a few changes. For one… the girl's tardiness had greatly decreased. Another was that the girl's clothes had changed; she no longer wore the ugly tattered clothes that he had almost gotten used to seeing and instead she wore a deep blue Furisode style kimono which was cut just a little below her knees and tied at her waist with an orange Obi. She was bullied less and less. And the girl had actually started talking with some of the other children, as a few as about less than a handful in number… but he could see that had a good effect on her.

Although despite all these… months later, Naruko had failed the Genin exam again. This time however, she was really depressed about it. She could not quite put her finger on it, but something she couldn't understand held her back… again. And it broke her heart seeing her friends, show off their Konoha Hitaiate to each other happy that they were becoming ninjas together.

'…without me.' Naruko thought, sadly.

To her surprise… Mizuki, a Chuunin Instructor like Iruka, had approached her and decided to talk to her. Unlike the first time she had met Iruka, Mizuki's eyes felt warm and honest… with those in mind and believing that he was actually trying to cheer her up she decides to go with him.

"How are you feeling?" asked the silver haired Chuunin.

Naruko considered how to answer his question. She wanted to answer simply… a short phrase or even just a word would have sufficed. But she couldn't bring herself to do so.

"You know… we didn't fail you because we wanted to." Mizuki said as he pat her head warmly.

"I know… but I really tried." her words mixed with short and light sobs. Tears fell from her eyes and hit the wide sleeves of her kimono.

Mizuki smiled deep inside, unbelievably happy that the girl was weak and susceptible to his guile. It was time he told himself and put out his warmest smile and projected nothing but good will to the depressed girl.

Following Mizuki's instructions Naruko stole the Forbidden Scroll of Seals when it was long passed the sleeping hours. She knew doing so was wrong, but the silver haired Chuunin had told her that if she learned even one jutsu from this particular scroll Iruka would pass her. Desperation over came her conscience and hoped that Iruka-sensei will forgive her after all this was over… just like Mizuki had said.

Arriving at the spot where, Mizuki said he'd bring Iruka, she begins going through the jutsus in the scroll.

At that same time, Iruka, Mizuki and a great number of Chuunins had been summoned to the Hokage's mansion. They are told that someone had stolen the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, and that someone was Naruko. Iruka was wide eyed in disbelief and stated aloud in front of a lot of his peers that he believed that girl would never have thought of and do such a thing.

A lot of the Chuunins looked at him in shock and argued back. Mizuki calmed him and everyone down and said that it might be a misunderstanding… he then whispers a friendly advice to Iruka stating that now was not the time to argue and instead they should find the girl. To which Iruka almost reluctantly agrees. Sensing the calm return to the lot of the ninjas gathered, the Hokage immediately ordered them to find and bring Naruko and the stolen scroll back. And in an instant more than two dozen Chuunins dashed out through the night covered Konoha in search of the blond thief.

Meanwhile, Naruko had just finished practicing a jutsu she had just learned and was curiously browsing the scroll memorizing other seals that were short and easy… completely unaware that someone else was studying it with her.

Minutes later, Iruka unwittingly finds her. He calls out to her; the slight tone of anger in his voice was something she expected… she had stolen something important after all. But for the first time in her life she thought she wanted something and desperately strove to be a ninja to get it. He closed the distance between them, glaring at her with a stern lecturing face that told her he was angry. She immediately rolls the scroll and stands in attention to her sensei.

Before he could say anything, she begins to apologize. "… sensei… I'm sorry. It's just that I wanted to become a Genin so bad… and when Mizuki-sensei said that if I learned and showed you one jutsu from this scroll… you would definitely pass me."

But Iruka mind had been temporarily lost when he heard her utter his colleague's name. His sharp senses were however able to sense an attack before it came. Skillfully he gathered his chakra in his hands he pushed Naruko out of harms way, taking a hit from more than one kunai.

Then came a very familiar voice, "I'm surprised you found this place, Iruka." the student and teacher look up a tree and found Mizuki perched up on a sturdy branch. It was then that Iruka had been able to piece the events that transpired.

"Naruko, give me the scroll." Mizuki ordered, his eyes no longer held the warmth and sincerity that they had earlier today. Instead she felt their cold icy stare burning into her soul.

She looked from him to Iruka and quickly pieced together the reality of things. She had been used. Biting back the anger and tears… she hugs the scroll as if claiming it.

"Naruko! Don't let him get the scroll!" Iruka tells her as he pulled out a bloodied kunai from his right thigh. "That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden jutsus. Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"

Naruko lowered her gaze unsure of what do now. Part of her wanted this scroll… it was already in her possession, and with it she might become strong enough to pursue her first dream. But a part of her, didn't want her sensei to hate her. And some other part of her… disappeared.

Then Mizuki spoke. "Naruko, Iruka and the people of Konoha are afraid of you possessing that scroll."

The blond looked up a little and turned her head towards Iruka.

"What are you saying, Mizuki!!!" Iruka yelled, fearing where Mizuki's words was going to lead them. He turns to face his student and tells her, "Don't listen to him Naruko!" and hoped against all odds that she would listen to him.

But Mizuki lets out a laugh filled with malice that caught both their attentions. "I'll tell you something interesting, Naruko."

Iruka could only yell his disagreement from afar.

And Mizuki, of course, ignored him. "Twelve years ago, a rule was created after a certain incident."

"A rule…?" Naruko echoed.

"And Naruko… It's a rule that only you, cannot find out about." as he explains the strong sound of malice in his voice grew.

"Only… me? What… kind of rule?..." she asked… her voice full and heavy muddled with curiosity, fear and anger.

"Stop it! Mizuki!!!" Iruka yells out desperately, strongly wishing that what ever it was that had came over him to do such a thing would disappear at those very moments.

The silver haired Chuunin gives her a sadistic smile and said, "It's the rule to never tell you that you are the demon fox that attacked Konoha twelve years ago."

The blond girl's eyes flew wide open in shock at what she had heard. "What?!..." she asked and tried not to believe him… just as Iruka had told her not to.

But Mizuki wasn't finished. He adds, "In other words you are the Kyubi no Yoko, the very same one that attacked our village and killed Iruka's parent's twelve years ago!"

Hearing those words shocked Naruko beyond anything she encountered her entire life. Her eyes opened wide seemingly staring out blankly to nowhere in particular before slowly turning towards Iruka's direction.

"Didn't you think that it's was weird for everyone to hate you so much? Probably the only bad thing you remember doing in your life was stealing that scroll. No one will ever recognize you as a person. Even Iruka hates you."

Mizuki's words were a strong blow to Naruko. But she understood now. And for some reason... she was no longer angry and she no longer hated Konoha and most of all her fears seemed to have died with her innocence of the rule that Mizuki had just explained.

Taking her broken mental state as the perfect chance, he pulls one of his gigantic shuriken from his back and whirls it into momentum. He then aimed for her chest then yelled, "Die! Naruko!" and let go of the huge projectile.

Naruko was aware of the attack but didn't move. Thinking that maybe her death was what was the best for Iruka, Konohagakure and herself. She closed her eyes and during the few seconds that she waited for the pain to come she only wished that she had a few good memories… and hope that what they say about seeing the good parts of ones life all over again before one died was true.

When Iruka saw her eyes closed… He knew she was not going to dodge. He didn't know how or why he knew, but in that instant… without thinking he rushed to block the shuriken's path.

She was then surprised when she heard a grunt of pain and a trickle of warm liquid hit her face. When she opened her eyes, she quickly realized what had happened. Her sensei had jumped between her and the shuriken and protected her from what would have been fatal blow. Barely thinking she asked him, "…sensei. Why?"

Iruka winced and struggled hard not to shake too much from pain, which was fairly difficult considering two or three good inches of the giant shuriken had lodge itself on his back and had hacked one of his ribs broken. He looked at his student and tried not to let out a hiss from the pain. Tears freely flowed from his eyes full of pain, guilt and sadness.

"After my parents died… no one recognized my existence. I acted like bad student, screwed up a lot in class… because I wanted people's attention… because I couldn't get it by being a good student…. so I acted like an idiot."

His eyes soften and stare into Naruko's blue orbs. "And when I see you… I remember parts of and things that I hated about me. But at the same time… I was impressed and even proud of you."

He placed his shaking hands on her shoulders and grips them lightly. "You didn't know who you were… or where you came from. You lived all twelve years of your childhood without parents and yet look at you…"

At that Naruko's blue eyes fall on to her hands, that still held the Forbidden scroll of seals. She knew her sensei had meant something else but she couldn't help but feel guilty at what she had done.

Iruka's left hand touched her chin and raised her gaze to his. With his voice pained but gentle he said to her, "I'm sure no one has told you this, so I will... Listen carefully, Naruko…"

The blond girl swallowed softly and stayed silent… nervous at what she was waiting for him to say.

Moving his hand from her chin to the top of her head, pushing all the thought and pain inflicted by the giant shuriken to the back of his mind, and tells her in a deeply parental voice, "You are a beautiful budding Kunoichi… intelligent, skilled, hardworking… and a good person… I'm proud of you."

Tears slowly started to flow strongly from her eyes. Her heart beat warmly upon hearing her teacher's words. And for the first time in her life… she felt that she belonged somewhere. "…sen-sei…"

To their surprise, Mizuki landed safely on the ground far behind Iruka and let out a pleased laugh. "You think to highly of the girl Iruka-sensei…"

"Mizuki…" Iruka turned to him while slowly taking out the giant shuriken from his back.

"Naruko! Iruka has always hated you for killing his parents! He just wants that scroll in your possession back and he's taking advantage of your emotions just like I did!"

Hearing Mizuki's words… the a new deep anger inside the young Kunoichi in training flared up; her teeth grit and bared, three barely visible lines on both of her cheeks began to show and the iris of her eyes slowly began to turn red.

"Iruka! Do you see her eyes?! Those are the eyes of that demon fox! With that scroll she can take her revenge and finish what the Kyubi had started twelve years ago!" the silver haired Jounin claimed a loud.

Naruko then heard a dangerous female voice whisper to her,

'_Yes… Revenge…' _

'_Let us kill…' _

'…_and destroy everything…'_

She had considered it many times… and it was part of the reason she wanted to grow stronger was to someday take vengeance on the people that had shunned her. But then…

Iruka spoke. His voice full of pain and anger, "Naruko wouldn't do that!!!"

His words hit her harder than Mizuki's. Iruka believed that she wouldn't do it… when there she listening to the dark voice in her head and considering what she had thought of doing for so many years. Part of her didn't want to trust him… while another part of her did. But the emotional damage dealt by Mizuki's betrayal was still very fresh, and her heart found it very difficult to trust anyone just yet.

"Hmph! It wouldn't matter anyway, I'm going to kill her and get the scroll." Mizuki pulls out the other giant shuriken that he had strapped on his back and got ready to attack.

In response, Iruka gets ready to defend Naruko from Mizuki's second attack. "You think I'll let you?!" his words sounded like an empty bark thanks to the pain from the wound on his back.

"Ha! What's so good about protecting that which killed your parents?" Mizuki asked smugly.

But instead of answering his question Iruka says to him, "I won't let a traitor like you get that scroll."

Mizuki laughed again, "You're an Idiot Iruka! That girl and I are a lot alike. It wouldn't really matter who of us takes off with that scroll."

"What do you mean?" Iruka reluctantly asked, honestly curious of what he meant by that.

"Hahahaha! Anything is possible with that scroll! There's no way that Naruko, the demon fox, wouldn't be tempted use its powers." Mizuki claimed in a confident all knowing voice.

"Hmmm… I guess that's true…" Iruka weakly and reluctantly stated.

Which earns a weak and disappointed gasp from Naruko, who lowers her heard and closed her eyes to push way the tears that wouldn't stop coming. The side of her that believed that Iruka was just using her berated her, making herself guilty for falling for it. But then… she feels a hand on her head, gently brushing her hair.

"That is… if she is the demon fox." his words were meant for Mizuki, but the soft tone his voice carried was aimed at Naruko. Who beyond herself found her tears stopping, her eyes opened weakly and her head raised slowly to look at her sensei. The whisker marks on her face that had just begun appearing had completely vanished and the reddened iris of her eyes easily faded back to blue.

Iruka weakly smiled at her and said, "She's an excellent student that I recognize. She's a little rough around the edges… but that's to be expected from the way people had treated her. And I know that she's not that demon fox…" his words still addressed to Mizuki. Then moving his hand down from her head to her cheeks, he gently brushes away her tears saying, "I'm sorry it took me a while to realize it, Naruko."

Naruko tilted her head just a tiny bit to the side, flashed him one of her rare and genuine smiles before she gave him a soft acknowledging nod… finding it hard to speak from the overwhelming joy she felt in that instant.

Mizuki in the meantime didn't find their scene of reconciliation amusing at all. It was too feminine for his taste and definitely ruined his plans, which he must immediately deal with. His hands skillfully spins the giant shuriken, his eyes set on his new first target… the bane of his plans, Iruka. "I was going to let you live Iruka… for friendship's sake and all that." he said to him causing the teacher and student to turn their attention towards him.

"But… I changed my mind…" his form was posed to strike. "Die!!!"

At that moment… the voice that whispered to her earlier returned and said, _'Kill him…'_

Upon hearing those words… her irises flared red again, her pupils became slit-like appearing feral and the whisker like lines on her cheeks showed itself once more. Her hands joined together quickly, formed the seals of the jutsu she had just recently learned from the scroll, and summoned as much chakra she could gather before Mizuki's attack came too close.

Then to both Chuunin's surprise she yells out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

And when the smoke from the jutsu cleared both were in for an even bigger surprise. Mizuki had been subdued, although still standing, by more than ten of Naruko clones.

The real Naruko stepped in front of Iruka, her eyes never leaving Mizuki and then said, "I won't let you harm sensei." in an almost malignant voice.

"You think just because you can do this jutsu you can stop me?! HUH!?!" Using all his strength Mizuki forces all of her clones off his being. All of them disappeared into a puff of smoke except for one. "I can kill a kid like you in a flash!" he yells out, and prepares to attack again.

Naruko takes a stance, her hands ready to start making a seal… while the remaining clone picked up the Forbidden scroll of seals, hands it to Iruka and gently lead him out of the way onto a tree a good enough distance away.

"DIE YOU DEMON FOX!!!" Mizuki yells out as when the giant shuriken has reached the fastest amount of rotation he could reach and lets it go towards the blond girl.

Iruka, who had been forced lean on a tree by Naruko's clone, yells out to Naruko in worry. "Dodge it Naruko!!!"

But Naruko doesn't and is impaled at her stomach and was sent flying with the shuriken.

In shock… Iruka calls out her name out loud, "NARUKO!!!"

"HAHAHA…" Mizuki laughed so loudly that it almost defeated Iruka's call for Naruko. He then turns his attention to Iruka, "Iruka, give me the scroll and I still might let you live."

All the brown haired Chuunin could do was hug the scroll tightly, for his body still weakened by the wound. Mizuki walked closer, sadistically smiling and pleased with the way things have turned out. It was then that a familiar sound came… the giant shuriken had whirled its way back through the air and was on its way towards Mizuki.

Mizuki recognized its huge and bloodied visage and posed to catch it. "Iruka, you like that girl so much right? I bet it would make you happy if I kill you with the same weapon that killed her."

'…_kill him…'_

Mizuki reached out to his flying weapon confident he would be able to safely catch it.

'_Kill him…'_

The giant weapon came closer and closer.

'_**KILL HIM!!!'**_

Then all of a sudden the weapon becomes shrouded in poof of smoke just seconds before it came to his hands reach. Only to reappear as the blond haired Kunoichi who came at him still in the air with kunai at hand. Reflex told Mizuki to grab one of his own kunai and defend, but was stunned when the short kunai suddenly turned into his giant shuriken which pierced deep into his chest and his heart with its cold hard steel even before his hands reached his weapon pouch.

"Damn… … he-nge… ack…" were the last words that came from his mouth before he falls dead on his back. While the bloody giant shuriken remained in girl's shaking hands.

Her blue eyes wide open in shock looking at Mizuki… who she had just killed.

Iruka gathered his strength and made his way towards his student's side. "Naruko." He called her with a worried voice.

"…sen-sensei… I… I…" She turns to him and he immediately recognized the look of guilt and panic of the first kill in the girl's eyes. Unsure of what to do he decides to reach out to her with one hand, pulls her towards himself and into a comforting hug.

"It's alright…" he said to her as he placed his chin on her head and gently pat her back. He didn't really know what else to say. He too had killed before, but the first time always gets to most people… some ninjas find it easier to cope, others find difficulty. Add the fact that her first kill was someone she had actually known, even if it was just a little bit… which makes it even harder.

The girl responds to his touch and words by letting go of the gigantic shuriken, raising her hands and hangs on to Iruka as if her life and sanity depended on it. The guilt of killing made her sick that she nearly felt like throwing up. Her anger at herself for listening to the voice in her head made her bite her lip hard enough to draw blood. Then… she cried.

After a good while, Naruko calms down and looks at Iruka. "What should I do now… sensei?" she asked with a shaky voice.

Iruka smiled at her weakly before he gave his answer, "We should get back to the Hokage's mansion and explain everything." He noted that the girl seemed hesitant but soon wiped her eyes and nodded.

The fixed themselves a little, Iruka performed some temporary first aid on his wound to stop the bleeding and Naruko picked up the giant shuriken while Iruka wasn't looking.

The teacher and student walked in silence as they slowly made their way to the Hokage's mansion. They were greeted by a pack of Chuunins, Jounins and the old Hokage himself.

Iruka hands the scroll to someone before the medic nins came to his aid. Then to everyone's surprise Naruko does something outrageous… in a flash, she grabs hold the old Hokage from behind. A giant shuriken and her kunai at hand, both of which appeared after she had released the Henge she had done on both items earlier making them look like dried blood on her hands, and points both weapons at the old ninja's neck.

But what surprised Naruko was that… the old man didn't move. She had expected him or someone else to kill her the very moment she moved to attack. But he didn't do anything. He remained calm and collected… which baffled her, until she thought that he knew she wasn't really going to kill him.

"Naruko!" Iruka yelled out and pushed away from the medic nins, daring to come closer to her.

"Don't move!" She tells everyone and points her blades dangerously close to the old man. Her words would have been ignored… had they not thought she might have learned a forbidden jutsu from the scroll that they would yet not be able to counter. So all the ninjas around her stayed where they were and waited for an opening.

"…sensei…" she called out to Iruka.

Iruka took a step forward and asked, "What is it?"

The young blond took a few seconds to take a deep breath and recompose herself. She was set on what she had decided to do. But first she wanted to know something… something she felt she needed to know. "Did you mean what you said in the forest?" she asked softly.

Some of the other Chuunins and Jounins around them looked at each other wondering what they were talking about.

Iruka flushed a little, a bit embarrassed and angry that the girl would resolve to this just to get his answer. "What?... this is not the time to talk about that. Let the Ho…"

But before he could say anymore Naruko hysterically yells, "Answer me!!!"

Unsure of what to do Iruka just looks at the Hokage who nods to his silent question. He nodded back to his Kage first. Deep inside he doubted answering was the right course of action and wondered where Naruko was leading this conversation. He recalled everything he said to her earlier at the forest, reviewed them a little then answered.

"Yes, Every word." his voice was serious and strong.

Unable to hold them back, tears began to streak down her cheeks once again. "I see…" she whispered as she looked down. Her hold on obviously Hokage softens… and yet he still didn't move.

"Thank you… for playing along, Hokage-sama." She tells the old man, who gave her a short grunt in response, before lock of her arms on him softens even more.

She looks at her teacher "Thank you… sensei."

Her hand lets go of the giant shuriken, which falls down to the floor with a cold loud clang. Then she pushed the Hokage towards the crowd and said, "Goodbye… sensei…" which caused Iruka's eyes to open wide in shock.

And just before a single kunai could leave the hand of the Chuunins and Jounins that held it Naruko whirls her own kunai, grabs it in a way where the blade faced her and stabs her own stomach. Leaving everyone stunned, even the Hokage.

"Naruko!!!" Iruka rushes to her side and catches her before she fell back and on to the cold stoned floor.

"Naruko! Naruko!!" Iruka calls out, but the girl's eyes were shut in pain. He moves a hand to remove the blade. But Naruko's hand shoots up and grabs his wrist keeping the blade there. "Don't… sensei… don't you know that I'll die faster from blood loss if you pull it out?" she joked weakly.

"Why?... Naruko?! Why?" Iruka asked angry, shocked and panicked.

Fresh tears come to well up in her eyes, "I'm tired… …sensei."

"Baka!! You're just twelve! You've barely lived!" he tried to reason with her. His gaze never left hers, which to started to grow misty with tears as he gazed at her pain filled eyes.

"I lived... long enough… considering…" she didn't continue… everyone around them knew what she had meant.

"What about your happiness? Your dreams!? The friends you've started making! You could join them… you said you wanted to be a strong ninja…" Iruka tried again, desperately seeking… rattling his brain as he tried to think of something and anything that might give her some will to live.

But then she told him, "Yeah… But I think I accomplished that…"

Iruka wasn't sure what she meant by that. So he had to ask her, "What?"

She gave him a short and weak smile before saying, "I was strong enough to kill myself…"

He tried to interrupt her saying, "That's not…"

But she cuts him off as well, "And…" she said with a strong hard voice.

"?..." he looks at her and waits for her to continue.

"By doing so… I'm going to kill Konoha's greatest enemy and threat, the Kyubi." The ninja's around them winced at the sound of monster's name. The Hokage could only cover his eyes from view with his hat.

Iruka was mortified. Words escaped him… all he could do was look at the dying blond girl; her lips that was beginning to leak blood, her blue eyes hidden in a mist tears and her already white face grew paler with each passing second. He inwardly cursed as he looked down, unable to bare the pain of watching her die.

The Hokage could only look down, unsure of what to feel for such a young girl who had chosen death for konoha… was he to feel sadness? …regret? …anger? ... or proud her? … or maybe he was supposed to feel all of them…

"But Iruka-sensei…" He looked up again, his eyes filled with surprise, when he heard her actually call out his name for the first time. She smiled at him… "You gave me a new one tonight… and it was fulfilled as soon as it was born."

"I don't understand?..."

"Earlier tonight… I felt that I wanted something… and it was to find a place and a…" her words interrupted when a coughed up blood, which her free hand had cough before it flew from her mouth.

"enough… don't say anymore!" he ordered her, hoping that she would listen to him.

Much to Iruka's dismay she continued, "and a- a person… even just one person who would acknowledge me."

Iruka's eyes opened wide, remembering what he had said to her… the very same one that she had asked him to confirm just moments ago.

"Arigatou... Iruka-sensei." She turns from him and looks at the crowd of ninjas… She looks at them with her tear misted eyes that seemed pale and empty. "Konohagakure… Gomenasai." Then with that she closed her eyes and pushed away the hand that Iruka was using to hold the Kunai's blade still. Blood oozed out faster from her body. Her eyes felt heavy and closed against her will. And ever so slowly… Naruko's consciousness faded.

"NARUKO!!!" Iruka yelled out into the heavens clutching the blood covered girl tightly in his arms.

…

_**... and Yōko**_

"_Fufufu… That was really stupid of you… Naruko-chan."_ playfully said the dangerous female voice that whispered evil deeds her.

"Who's there?!" Naruko opens her eyes… but could nothing but darkness. She tried to guess where she was…

"_Ah… Yes. We've been introduced many times in your dreams... but you don't seem to remember any of our meetings once you wake up." _the voice sounded as if it came from everywhere in the darkness, but that fact didn't concern Naruko as much as her what she had said. Her eyes opened wide, confused at what she meant by that.

"_Oh… I'm so sorry. I'm not really sure on how to explain this to you… which should be weird considering I've done this about more than a thousand times… hmmm…"_ the voice's words trail off, seemingly in thought.

While the voice kept silent, Naruko looked around trying to figure out where the hell she was. The last think she remembered doing was… "I'm dead…." she muttered out.

"_Huh? Dead?!" _the voice echoed in surprise but then it laughed and said,_ "Oh! Goodness no! But I really have to ask you not to do that again."_ in a playful tone. _"It really hurt, you know… dying."_

Annoyed Naruko yelled out, "If I'm not dead then where am I?!"

"_Ok… ok… Hang on! Hang on!... I'll show you instead."_

At the end of the voice's words… the room slowly lit up revealing her inside her own house. It was a small house; it had a decently useful kitchen, enough space for a bed, a bathroom, a few of her valuables and other necessities. She turned around and tried to see what it was the voice was trying to show her. She walked towards a mirror… at that moment she knew something was different and it felt that it was just under her nose. She looked at herself in the mirror and tried to figure what seemed different.

Until… her reflection moved differently.

"_You don't own a mirror!"_ said her reflection.

Naruko gasped out in surprise and took two steps away. She watched in horror as her fake reflection's hair split into two and floated softly like two long ears at the back of her head, her blue eyes turned blood red and formed slit-like pupils, on her cheeks appeared three thick whisker like markings and a thick and seemingly fluffy shadow like tail that wagged softly at her back.

"Are you… Kyubi?!" she asked

"_Ah! Yes… you know about the Kyubi thing now don't you… that guess was close in a way… but sadly… no."_ her feral looking doppelganger replied all too playfully lively for someone whose aura felt so malevolent.

Naruko was really confused at that point and just asked, "Then who are you…?" in an almost panicked voice.

The girl in front of her frowned and tilted her head to the side disappointedly. _"Give up already? How boring…"_ the double pouted her lips in pretentious misery.

Annoyance won over the tiny fear in her and Naruko growled, "Who are you?!" angrily at her altered reflection, which the altered reflection found herself smiling in delight and amusement to.

The reflection lazily crosses her arms and lets out a soft giggle in glee before saying,_ "My name is Yōko… and I am… you."_ adding emphasis and length when she said the last word.

Naruko's eyes flew wide open in shock. "What?!"

"_Well to be more exact… I am another you."_ Yōko teasingly explained.

"… that can't be possible." Naruko waved her hand in front of her as if to forcefully reject the doppelganger's statements.

But Yōko just shrugged her shoulders and said, _"Well think of me as whatever you feel comfortable with… Kyubi, an inner demon, your dark side or whatever... Just understand and take this one thing to heart…"_

"What is it?" Naruko asked seriously, her blue eyes glaring at her feral double almost angrily.

Yōko's hands moved and her hips, her color slowly disappearing with the room. _"We won't die that easily…"_

"Who do you mean we?!" Naruko yelled at her other self, her eyes watched as Yōko's lips danced an answer, but it was too late to see or hear. The darkness and silence had enveloped her again.

Three days later… Naruko opened her eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar room. Her nose picked up the odd smell of disinfectants and medicine, which made her wince a little when her nose first took it in. She sat up and looked around. Then to her surprise the door opened and revealed Iruka, who had just returned from his quick trip to the hospital's cafeteria.

"Naruko!" he called out and rushed to her bedside.

"Iruka-sensei…" she mumbled as she watched him comically make his way towards her.

After placing both his hands on her shoulders he gave her a gentle shake. "How do you feel? Does anything hurt? Are you hungry? ...thirsty? …do you need to refresh yourself?" he spewed questions faster than she could even think to answer.

"Sensei!!" she loudly called out to him, which got his attention and quickly silenced him. "… I'm fine."

"Thank goodness…" and as if a large burden had been lifted from him… he lets go of her shoulders, and fell to his knees and leaned with his face on the bed's side.

Naruko blinked a few times… unsure of what had just happened.

Then all of sudden… Iruka suddenly stood up again and looked at her, only this time he looked angry. "Naruko!"

"Ha-ha-hai!..." she stiffened on the bed, surprised and scared.

The brown haired grabs her shoulders again this time his hands were tight, firm and a touch bit painful. He pulled her closer and yelled, "Don't you ever do that again!"

Immediately images of what had happened to her just before she lost consciousness flashed into her mind and she easily understood what her sensei had meant. She nodded to him and said, "I won't… I promise."

And instantly, Iruka relaxed. His hands let go of her and he sagged down to her bed side again.

Naruko felt happy, that her sensei was worried about her… that thought alone made her smile.

To her surprise, Iruka stood up again… looked at her and asked her to close her eyes. She gave him a wary curious look but complied. To her surprised she felt him tie something on her forehead. A part of her felt that she knew what it was and she had to say, "Iruka-sensei… this is…"

But before she could finish her sentence he interrupted her and said, "…one moment and keep your eyes closed."

Not wanting to disappoint him, she obeyed. She heard him walk away, pick something up, walked back towards her and said, "Okay you can open your eyes now."

She did as he said and she saw her face in the mirror that he held in front of her, her forehead was wrapped with the Konoha Hitaiate. Her smile slowly widened and she felt like she wanted to cry.

"How is it?" Iruka asked her.

Naruko innocently looked at Iruka and mischievously said, "I think the color would match my Kimono."

Iruka bit back the desire to laugh at her joke and instead ruffled her hair a little with his hand. "Is that all?!" he retorted playfully, while his thoughts wandered and his heart hoped that this girl would soon open up to other people like she had to him. Then he noticed that her looked turned serious.

When she noticed that his attention was on her again she asked, "Do I really deserve this sensei?"

Iruka had expected, anticipated and prepared that question. It actually came to him as soon as the Hokage said that he was expecting a new list of Genin teams, right about the same time they learned Naruko was going to survive. He stood up straight assuming an examiner's stance and pose.

"Uzumaki Naruko…"

The blond stiffened a little to sound of her name, sensing the seriousness in her sensei's voice she decides to remain still and silent as she sat and listened to him on her bed.

"… for the uncanny use of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, well timed utilization of the Kawarimi no Jutsu and for creativity and perfection of the Henge no Jutsu. All executed in a life and death situation. It is my honor to award you the rank of Genin level ninja."

Naruko could not find the words to express how happy she was at that very moment. Her hands raised themselves and covered her mouth fighting the small sobbing gasp that escaped her.

"Congratulations Naruko." he told her warmly.

"Arigatou… Iruka-sensei."

_**The End of Story One: Naruko and Yōko.**_

_**Author's notes: **_This took me about four to five days to write, a few hours to proofread edit and finalize… and considering it's length I'm surprised I got it done before a week was finished. But technically speaking if I add the day I plotted this story and the day after it where I did nothing… It would be a week. (shrugs it off…)

Honestly this could have been longer, but I decided against some details and people I could introduce later. My target was to have each chapter be able to stand alone and yet each chapter is still connected to the other in one way or another (hopefully).

One of the things that slowed me down was my eyes tearing up from the drama… that I hope I was able to project to my readers.

Anyway… I hope you guys liked my take on Naruto's female counterpart and Yōko (her weird, sick in the head and probably a little peppy dark side.), who didn't get as much screen time for now.

If anyone sees any errors… kindly pm me about it, the whole thing was so long I didn't have it in me to proofread it more than once. Many thanks in Advance.

_**Please Review!**_


	3. Two Part One : Team Seven and Saki

_**Naruko**_

One evening more than five years ago, an almost unspeakable tragedy occurred to one of the most prominent ninja clans of Konohagakure. One night was all it took for a killer to massacre almost the entire family of the Uchiha clan, sparing only the lives of two people. One of them was the now runaway ninja Uchiha Itachi, the very person who killed his entire family, and, the other was Uchiha Saki, his own sister.

No one knows why the young seven year old girl was left alive by his brother. She was found the next day beaten, wounded but not fatally and left in the blood stained ground of the Uchiha compound surrounded by the cold bloodied bodies of her family and servants…

The ninja that found her said that when he came to pick her up; she was just laid there, staring blankly out to nowhere and kept on mumbling the name of her brother and asking the question "Why?" over and over…

_**Story Two: Team Seven (Part One of three):**_

It was two weeks after the students of the ninja academy graduated to Genin rank ninjas. They were told days ago to come to their academy rooms and wait for further instructions. They were to be separated into teams three. Each team was to be balanced depending on their grades… it's not an easy task, sometimes the Instructors of these young Genins would like to add personality and compatibility among teammates when deciding their teams. But unfortunately the youngsters must learn that as ninjas they can't always team up with only the people they like.

Naruko slowly and shyly opened the classroom door. The girl that sat at the back corner of the room, the one closest to the entrance or exit, looked at her as she did. The blond girl squeaked a little and inched back when the she noticed the girl's sharp dark eyes shot at her direction. Her eyes then grew wide as she recognized Naruko's shy and frightened features. "Naruko!" she called out a loud, causing a few heads to turn.

The blond gave her a small curtsy nod before voicing out a shaky, "Hi… Shika-san…" to the sharp eyed girl.

Quickly scanning her blond friend's features, Nara Shika immediately noticed that her friend was wearing the Konoha Hitaiate. "Omae!?... I thought you failed?!" she said as lazily pointed a finger at her friend and she stood up from her seat.

Naruko, looked down, before giving Shika a quick nod and said, "Yeah… I did…"

Shika just stared at her impassively.

There was a pregnant pause that seemed to fill the small space between them with a bit of anxiety. The blond hoped she didn't have to explain too much… the memory of how she demonstrated her abilities still haunted her guilt a little. It didn't matter that the person was someone she hated, that she did it to save her life and Iruka's life not even the fact that he was a traitor… could ease the guilt of taking another's life. The memory sometimes made her want to throw up.

She then looked up to her friend. She was scratching her head by lightly rubbing the long, uneven but straight black hair that was tied in a messy and barbed pony tail behind the top of her head… all the while her small but sharp eyes didn't leave her face and a curiously pleased smile graced her lips.

The blond inwardly sighed, she knew that Shika wouldn't let it pass without an explanation… the girl was lazy but she was quite tenacious when she wanted to be. "… but I sort of… got a retake exam. I guess they pitied me for failing too many times." she surprised herself with the way she had been able to execute her lie.

Not that she had to lie… Iruka and the Hokage had talked to her about her Genin promotion and told her that she earned and deserved her ninja rank. Neither man asked her to conceal the facts of her promotion… instead she was the one who asked, hoping she'd have the liberty to keeping it secret until she got over the fact that she had killed. Iruka had told her that it was a part of a ninja's life, which Naruko had to accept sooner or later. Naruko told her favorite sensei days ago that she accepted that it was part of a ninja's life… but told him that there was something else, something that she couldn't quite explain or understand.

Shika blinked at her friend a few times, as if testing her, and tilted her head to one side. It made Naruko feel uneasy, not that she wasn't enough already, but tried to keep her cool anyway. A ninja isn't supposed to show emotion, but that was one rule that Naruko had the hardest time following… not that she didn't want to.

But then to her relief, her dark haired friend gave her a wide smile before walking over to her side and putting her arm around her neck in a friendly and playful manner. "Well that's good then! It means I'm not the one with the lowest grade in our batch then!" she said before letting out a soft honest laugh.

The blond didn't know whether to be happy, because someone was happy she passed, or insulted, because that particular someone was happy because she wasn't the batch's "dead last" anymore. But she smiled in response to her friend's gesture nonetheless.

From the other corner of the room a pair of lavender eyes watched the exchange to the two friends. Hyuuga Haruki sat in his seat and merely observed his classmates with an inward smile. He was happy to see that Naruko had passed the Genin exam after all. He was nervously twiddling with his bangs, his hand serving as a makeshift wall so that people wouldn't think he was looking at the blond girl. He had a crush on the timid girl for quite a while now… but he was too shy and unconfident to do anything about it himself.

At the front seat sat a young girl, who dressed in a simple blue shirt and white shorts, Uchiha Saki… her eyes, dark as her modestly long raven black hair, gazed forward… not once acknowledging the presence of her classmates. To her… her classmates were a hindrance to her, to her all of them are not taking ninja training as seriously as she does, and this made the time she was force to spend there waiting a waste. Under the desk, out of people's sight, her hands closed, clenched and opened in a repeatedly impatient cycle. Most of their classmates had learned to stay away from the girl. Not because she was the top of this genin ninja academy's batch, not because her grades in both written and practical exams were top-notch… and definitely not because she made it quite clear that she didn't want friends. But rather people avoided her because there were actually people who liked her and protected her.

Like Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Inosuke. The two more-or-less-friends, have expressed a strong interest for the dark brooding raven haired girl, happily seated on the seats beside hers… glaring at each other quite openly. The two boys have been known to compete at almost anything since they were six years of age. And besides being the one to claim the heart of the last Uchiha… one of their on-going contests is to see who can keep their hair long the longest, which Sakura regrets accepting but has too much pride to back out of. Unlike Inosuke… he has a girlish name, a lot of feminine features and having his hair long only adds to the bane that he carries already.

The new Genins suddenly stopped what they were doing when they heard the door open. All of them took a seat and watched as their scarred instructor walked into the classroom. Iruka looked at his' students one at a time and gave them all a proud smile, but his true purpose was to see what kind of expression each of his former students had. Was it excitement?... anxiety?... pride?... happiness?... or something else. He was glad to know that most seemed excited even if it wasn't always a good thing.

His eye lingered a few seconds longer on Naruko, who was sitting at the back row with the few of her very few friends, and felt a bit more proud. It was his secret… or maybe he should say his and the Hokage's secret that Naruko was his favorite student ever, not matter how low her grades are formally. He also noted to the old Kage earlier that her reaching the Genin status was a blessing… had she failed this year they would have been forced to make two new Genins either wait for a third member or have a two man team, which unorthodox usually causes some problems.

Then he turned his eyes to look at all of his students he greets them and said, "Starting today, you are all official ninjas. But remember that you are all new Genins. It's only going to get harder from here." He watched with amusement as some of boys tried to look tough and proud as if they could accomplish anything… as their former instructor he only hoped that they'll succeed with some humility and not let confidence get them killed. "You all will be in a group of three, where you will accomplish missions under a Jounin teacher."

As soon as he said that they would be in groups of three, he could see the delight and hope from some students praying to be groups with their friends. He allowed them to look around as if choosing their team members… it was the last fantasy that he could give to them. He spared a few seconds to look at Naruko, who's eyes told him to place her with anyone that wouldn't bully her... how he understood what her eyes could tell him sometimes was a mystery he didn't really feel the need to solve any time soon.

He also explains to them before hand that each team was put together by balancing out each new genin's ability so that each team will have more or less the same overall balance. Iruka surprised himself for not laughing… for at least one team was getting a better deal than others. But of course since he had only followed the rules that balanced each Genin team using their academy marks… it wasn't really his fault that a team or two was getting an advantage.

At those moments, Saki's mood got a tiny bit lower… she didn't like the idea of a team. She had hoped for a new teacher to continue her training, teach her new jutsus and give her experiences that would strengthen her as a ninja. But she figured that two members wouldn't be as big a burden as a whole class and tried to shrug the issue off.

On the seats beside her, the gaze of the two boys connected in to an electrifying battle. Both boys wanted only one thing at that moment… and that was to be on the same team as Uchiha Saki. Behind them a few wished only to be with someone they could get along with. While a few didn't seem to mind who they were teamed up with.

Iruka had begun dictating the names of team members. Calling out the team number first, then the names of each member loud and clear one at a time. When he reached team seven he found himself looking over to his favorite student. "Team Seven… Uzumaki Naruko." He noted that the girl had gulped visually hard enough for him to imagine the sound she could have made. He then watched her lips curl up into a soft smile when he called out, "Haruno Sakura." And then frowned when he called out the last member, "Uchiha Saki." … he'll have to ask her about it sometime if he remembers.

Sakura inwardly cheered. He was with Saki, his one true love. And Naruko, who though a bit weird… withdrawn… doesn't fight back against bullies… and had really bad grades… he froze at that thought for a moment before whispering to himself, "Heaven and Hell…" and began to expect the worst of the worst… thinking that if he was expecting the worst thing to happen, he wouldn't be as disappointed when she just bad at something. But the girl was nice, if a little too reserved for his taste, and had never done anything he would have held against her.

The young Hyuuga frowned a little disappointed that he wasn't placed in the same team as Naruko. Instead his was teamed with Inuzuka Kira and Aburame Shiho. His mind out of his daydreams, he thought that his team mates were ok… instead he worried if he would be a burden to them. Both girls were quite skilled and were from powerful clans like himself.

Inosuke on the other hand cursed that he didn't get to be with Saki. But he almost cursed aloud when Iruka announced that he was to be teamed with Nara Shika and Akimichi Chouko. He had always hated Shika's sharp tongue and her lazy attitude while he didn't really hate Chouko at all… he doesn't find her the least bit cute… but he did wonder how she could eat all day and not get any bigger than she already is. He sighed and wondered if his parents had anything to do with them being in the same team, but if he had to bet on it the probability was quite high.

After announcing the members of the tenth team, Iruka dismisses them after telling them to return by the afternoon which was when he'll be introducing each team to their Jounin Leader. The spirits of the new Genins high they head to meet with their new teammates, though some did so more reluctantly than others.

Sakura had literally run around the campus in search for Saki, simply because he wanted to have lunch or talk about something and anything the girl might be open to discuss. But after a few hours of being unable to find Saki and the afternoon drawing closer he decided to return to the classroom. He is surprised to learn that one Genin had already gotten there before he did.

Her long blond hair was a little dull, seemingly uncared for and unbecoming of a girl but who he was to tell her that. One thing that improved his opinion of the girl was when she had gotten around to buying new clothes, though they don't match her hair very much... at least in his opinion. He watched her for a few seconds sitting on the back corner chair of the room while reading a jutsu scroll, noting a difference in the radiance of her seemingly sparkling sapphire blue eyes...

He soon realized that he was thinking too much of a girl other than Uchiha Saki and had to mentally note to punish himself later for it. It wouldn't have been so bad but… it was Naruko of all people. She was far from being good enough for him and probably his parents. She was nearly Saki's complete opposite, but he could feel that there were quite a few things that they did have in common. He just didn't know what yet… and he doubted that he'll find out the easy way.

After giving himself a short time to recompose himself he called out, "Naruko-chan!" walked in and closed the door neatly behind him.

Immediately recognizing the voice the blond girl looked up from the scroll she was reviewing and found Sakura looking at her from the front seats. He had a bright smile on his face accenting his cherry blossom like hair seemed to glow lightly from the reflected rays of the sun. She politely nodded a curtsy to him and muttered, "Konnichiwa, Haruno-sama." Months ago talking to the cherry haired boy would bring a blush on her face, but she had eventually gotten used to having contact him. After being rescued countless times from the bullying of her other classmates by him, it was only a matter of time before she developed the ability to partially control her blush reflex.

His hands found themselves on his hips, which almost slipped on the slick brownish red silk fabric of his kung fu suit. "Naruko… How many times have I asked you not to call me that." He asked with a false tone of anger.

Naruko frowned but answered, "I did not keep count, Haruno-sama."

Sakura found himself sighing heavily at her response. He recalled that the girl had started calling him "Haruno-sama" ever since he chased bullies away from her since they became classmates. He had asked her to just call him Sakura or Saku time and time again, but the girl for some reason kept on calling her with such a formal and respectable way that it actually gets on his nerves. He walked closer to the blond girl until he was standing in front of her desk. He innocently took her hands from the scroll that they were holding and leaned a little so that her emerald green eyes met her sapphire blues. His mind ignored the blush that crossed her face and the audibly very nervous gulp her throat had let out.

"Naruko." He called her… if only to get her undivided attention, which he didn't know he already had the moment he had walked in.

"H-ha-hai?" She stuttered, surprised that she found it hard to think even under such a low level of Skinship… but when all she could see in his emerald green eyes was her reflection, it almost seemed reasonable.

"You can call me Sakura you know... It would be nice if you did, especially now that we're teammates." He said in a smooth voice and a wide bright smile. He inwardly smiled when she looked away guiltily knowing that he had made his point. "So what do you say?"

He almost smiled when his teammate reluctantly answered, "I understand…" but still kept her eyes away from him.

"You understand?..." he sounded a little challenging, he hated that he had to do it this way… but being called by your family name was a little irritating. And he doesn't want to be irritated by his own teammate, especially since he doesn't really understand why she kept calling him with such respect and formality.

"I understand… Sakura…" he almost jumped for joy and cheered that she had finally gotten the message. But then he almost slumped to the floor when she added, "-sama." at the end... almost.

The blond girl watched as her cherry haired teammate let out a sigh. Before smiling when she muttered something about it sounding better than being called "Haruno-sama". Naruko had not meant to call him that out of spite. Far from it in fact… she respected and appreciated him so much she found it hard to not call him such. The boy had been the first person her age to show her kindness by protecting her from bullies. And for that she couldn't bring herself to treat him with much familiarity and informality.

Then she recalled the warm feeling in her hands which earned a quick gaze down where she saw that her hands was still in his. Despite the fact that she liked it being there, she knew that it would be best to get over any special feelings she had for him. They might not know it, but there was a demon trapped inside her… and she wasn't going to risk turning them into outcasts by socializing with her longer than they're required.

"Um… Sakura-sama?" she called out and looked at him sheepishly.

Definitely sounds better than "Haruno-sama." Sakura thought with an unconscious smile. "Hai?" he looked at her as he wondered what it was that caused the almost worrisome tone in her voice.

"A… Um…" Naruko blushed a bit harder. She found it hard to tell him that he was still holding her hands.

"Hmmm?" Sakura smiled and leaned a bit closer because oddly enough he loved the way blond girl's hesitant face turn amusingly cute.

"Um…"

He loved to tease her, it wasn't exactly bullying and he always stopped long before going to far. "Come on. Just say it. We're friends aren't we?" He said and meant it.

He noted that she turned another soft shade redder. She nodded to him and tried again, "Umm…"

"Hai?" the cherry haired male couldn't stop himself from asking her that again in the same playfully teasing tone.

"Your… hands…" she muttered.

"Hmmm?" At those moments, he had completely forgotten that his hands were in fact touching something or someone and asked, "What about them?"

That caused Naruko's face to darken with another deeper shade of red. Her eyes fell onto her hands before she said, "They're… still holding mine…" her voice shaking as she tried to pronounce each syllable.

It was Sakura's turn to blush; he let out a short yelp in surprise as he quickly and anxiously withdrew his hands from hers. He immediately looked around to see if someone else was in the room to see that. A big sigh of relief quickly escaped his lips when he saw that no one besides them had been in there.

In his panic, Sakura completely missed the look of disappointment in Naruko's face. She didn't blame him though, the blond was well aware that he was obviously pinning for Saki… and she wasn't going to reward his kindness to her by ruining his chances for him. Her hands however clasped together, whether it was done by her own will or unconsciously… she did not remember, and smiled to herself as she tried to kept the warmth of her hands cherishing every extra second the memory and feel of Sakura's hand lasted on hers.

A few awkward moments passed before their classmates returned to the classroom, took their seats and awaited Iruka's return hopefully with their Jounin leaders and further instructions. Sakura had decided to actually sit beside Naruko, because they were teammates now, which left a seat on his other side empty and hoped Saki would take it when she comes in.

It was not until every other team had been led out of the room that their team was asked to wait for their Jounin leader who was running a little late. Saki sat in front of the room yet again… much to Sakura's disappointment, but it was easily remedied by half ordering half dragging Naruko to the front seats with him.

"Saki-san! Mind if we sit with you?" he asked and half hoped that the dark haired girl would answer positively.

But Saki, who was had rested her head on her clasped hands, just turned her head ever so slightly to look at them before looking straight ahead once again. If Sakura had been disappointed by her actions he didn't show it. Instead he sat beside her anyway and made Naruko sit beside him, which the blond girl had no choice but to obey.

About an hour later… Sakura had gotten restless and had been walking around the room bored out of his mind. Saki seemed to keep her cool but under the table her hands were clenching and unclenching, herself becoming just as restless as Sakura. And Naruko scanned the bookshelves looking for something else to read. It was then that the door slid open revealing a masked grey haired ninja.

The man's face had been mostly covered; his Hitaiate tied diagonally so that it hid his left eye, while a dark navy blue mask wrapped and covered his neck and lower face. He looked at all three new Genins without the least bit of enthusiasm before he asked, "Team Seven?"

All three nodded.

"Hmmm… there are a lot of Kunoichi this year huh…" he said offhandedly, which earned him an irritated glare from a certain pink haired Genin. He noted that it was very rare to have a lot of Kunoichi, even more rare was to have a lot of them reach Genin at the same time. Not that it was a bad thing… well maybe it will be for him. Then he gave each of them one more look before he said, "Follow me."

The three young ninjas complied without a word.

The masked Ninja lead them out of the room and led them to a training ground passed the village outskirts before he faced them again. "Let's see… Why don't you introduce yourselves to me." he said as he hopped and sat on a tall cut tree trunk that had been wedged to the ground.

"Introduce ourselves?" Sakura echoed, "What should we say?" he asked feeling a hint irritated for an unsure reason.

"Well… tell me what you like, what you hate, your hobbies and your dream. Something like that…" He turns his head towards Naruko first and said, "Why don't you start?"

The blond girl nodded and said, "I'm Uzumaki Naruko. I like warm things. I… hate crowded places. I like going out of the village to hunt and scavenge for food. I'm not sure what my new dream is yet…" She occasionally paused here and there to think of what to say or gather the nerve to say them.

Sakura turned to her and asked, "New dream? What happened to your old one?" He stood between the two girls, he leaned slightly closer to the blond girl's side, listening intently to her answer and mental notes of what she said for future references.

Naruko sheepishly smiled and turned to him then said, "Iruka-sensei made me realize that that dream was not for me."

The cherry haired boy, just raised an eye brow in confusion and wondered if he should pursue the subject.

The masked ninja watched the exchange between the two teammates and noted to himself that the girl seemed less nervous that he used to see and hear about. Not that it was a bad thing but he had definitely been expecting to set some or a lot of time to increase the girl's confidence. He then looks at the cherry haired boy, whom he earlier thought to himself might pass for a Kunoichi if he tried to look like one. "Okay… Next."

Sakura felt a hint irritated for some reason but shrugged it off. "I'm Haruno Sakura. I like Saaaaa-… Salty foods!" He was somehow able to remedy his own error before it became too bad. He noticed that Naruko had looked away from him and had covered her mouth… giggling in silence. What he didn't notice was Saki rolling her eyes, his interest in her had been painfully and annoyingly obvious. "I hate my ex-best friend Inosuke and being mistaken for a girl. I don't really have a notable hobby. And my dream is to become a strong ninja… to protect those that I care about."

Their Jounin leader noted that the boy had just dug his own grave… for on his left the girl he would bet he had his sights on was an Uchiha, the name alone was a reason on it's own, and on his right was a girl who performs way better than her academy records suggests, or so he had been told. He was definitely trying to impress the Uchiha girl. The masked ninja told himself and made another note that he might need to give this boy some training beyond the ways of the ninja… that is if he lives long enough.

Then setting his visible eye on the raven haired girl he said, "And the last one?"

Saki looked straight into the Jounin's eye and said, "My name is Uchiha Saki, there are a lot of things I hate… and there aren't many things I like…" she paused for a few seconds, before continuing after deciding to skip one question because she didn't have an answer for it. "I have to find a certain someone and revive my clan."

Sakura's eyes held a fang of jealousy in them. He honestly thought that by "a certain someone" Saki had meant a lover. Of course their Jounin knew what she meant for he was well aware of what had happened to her family, but he couldn't help but find the look in the boy's eyes a little funny. Naruko however remained nearly impassive, but there was a nearly unnoticeable air of pity around her.

The masked Jounin let out a small laugh before saying, "You three have quite distinct personalities… I like that." he then hopped down from the log to face them. "Now then…"

But before he could say anything more, Sakura interrupted him. "Uh… What about you, sensei? Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" the young boy said in a way that sounded more defiant that he would have liked, but he lets it go… after all the boy was having bad luck catching the girl's attention.

"Ah yes… let's see… I'm Hatake Kakashi…"

The three young Genins, unconsciously leaned forward waiting what he would say.

"I have no intention of telling you what I like and what I hate…" he said sounding very much unconcerned.

Sakura's mood soured even more, Naruko only thought the way he had said it was cool and Saki cursed and wished that she had thought of saying that herself.

"As for my dream…" he annoyingly and knowingly paused before continuing, "I have a few hobbies…" he said looking up as if his hobbies were listed in the clouds, which made Sakura and Naruko look up to where his eye might have been looking. It surprised him that his students didn't complain to him about it… not that he didn't read and feel it from their annoyed and accusing eyes.

"Now then! We shall start tomorrow. I want you three to come to this training ground at five in the morning and bring your equipment with you." then he turned around and gesturing a goodbye. He was feeling a bit generous and decided to not scare them yet. He probably wouldn't have been so nice had there been two boys and one girl… but seeing more girls and a pretty boy made him feel a little lenient. But no matter what happens he knew that he cannot be lenient tomorrow.

Before he got to take step away he recalled something and he turned his head to them again then said, "Oh! And one more thing… don't eat breakfast! You might throw up." Kakashi had fun watching the faces of the three young Genins turn with different expressions. Saki seemed to dislike the idea but was somehow able to keep a cool cold front, Naruko appeared to be rather nervous and frightened by whatever image came to her mind and Sakura looked quite disgusted already.

With one step and a wave, the masked jounin vanished in a small whirlwind of leaves. Which left Sakura open mouthed with awe. "That was cool! Guess we can go now. Hey you girls want to…" he turns his head to look at his teammates only to find himself alone in the training ground.

Far off in the bushes, Naruko had already headed out to hunt for her meal. She had skipped lunch earlier to wait for their Jounin leader so she had grown quite hungry. But the reason she left so hastily was to give Sakura some time alone with Saki. It was too bad for her and the cherry haired boy that Saki had decided to leave as soon as Kakashi and Naruko did, disappearing almost as fast.

From the direction of the training grounds, a loud angry roar could be heard, "ARG!! They all left me!!!" from a frustrated Sakura.

_**Saki**_

The next day… the crisp morning air of the training grounds welcomed the young Genins. Each ninja arrived from a different path from the others and Naruko's, Sakura thought, seemed the oddest for it looked like she came from the farther end of Konoha. He shrugged it off for now and made a mental note to visit her house at least once so that he'd know where to look for her when necessary.

Naruko smiled and formally greeted him back. The blond was wide awake. And it was thanks to her talent for sleeping when she wanted to and waking almost when she wanted to. She had decided to sleep early the night before, sleep until it was nearly time to meet up, drank some a bit of fresh juice hoping it would tide her over for a while. She hoped that this would all be over soon and they could get something to eat.

Saki was dressed differently today, gone were the plain blue shirt and white shorts that did noting to accent her features. Today she was garbed with a very dark, and almost black, blue yukata with its sleeves trimmed down to her shoulders and cut just above her legs, a slim red sash kept robe like garment in place at her waist and several fashionably placed bandages wrapped her arms and legs. Traditionally she would have to wear the ninja garments in the design and colors that the Uchiha clan had always proudly worn. But their unfortunate absence made it possible for her to wear something else... It wasn't that she dislike the clothes, she just didn't like remembering 'that night' whenever she saw or is reminded by something Uchiha. But other than her clothes she looked just as she usually does, her pose and aura was still indifferent to them even in such an early morning, which made Sakura wonder what exactly did he have to do to ever gain her favor. Arriving within earshot he greeted both girls, hiding how sleepy he really felt beneath a wide smile.

Saki maintained her usual disinterest, only giving Sakura a quick look before she returned to her own thoughts. And those thoughts were on her brother…

Uchiha Itachi was the Uchiha clan's greatest genius. He had a near godlike aim, a flare for learning technique after technique, great at close combat and over all more than one could ask for in a ninja. At home he was loved and loved back, especially paying attention to Saki. He tried to teach her everything he knew and usually she let him. And one day it seemed like their father had a new reason to be proud, for she was the Uchiha clan's unexpected genius, Saki awakened to her Sharingan a month or two earlier than Itachi. Her brother claimed that he was proud of her… and till this day she believes him.

However one day, she came home from the academy and learned that her relatives have been killed. Slaughtered like animals and left on the cold bloodied soil. She recalled growing angry but the worry for her family quelled her anger and she almost calmly searched for her parents. But when she arrived in her home she discovered that they too had been killed. When she found the killer she readied to attack… but froze when she saw that it was her own brother. Tears streaked freely from her eyes and her gaze blurred… confused.

She asked him if it was his doing, but he didn't answer. She asked him why had he done so, but again he didn't answer. Instead he attacked her too… but she barely will to defend herself and was quickly thrown back. Wounded, battered and bruised… she just looked at her brother in disbelief. And just when her mind had begun to calm… her brother used a powerful Genjutsu on her to show her how he had killed every member of their clan over and over again.

When the jutsu ceased… she looked at him with weakened eyes and asked, "why?"

But he did not answer.

From the corner of her eye she saw a kunai. She reached for it and picked it up, looked at her brother who only watched her with indifference. Then to her surprise he moves and grabs her hand before the blade even got close to her clothes. And all she could do was ask, "why?" her tone laced the words "You're going to kill me anyway…" the very words she couldn't bring herself to say.

Then he spoke, "Hate me, Detest me, cling to life and survive even in the most unsightly of ways… then come kill me." words colder than the kunai that dug at the side of her shoulder, the one he had forced her own hand to stab. Her only saving grace was that the pain added to her previous ones had forced her to finally loose consciousness.

_**Friendship**_

An hour had passed and there was still no sign of their Jounin Sensei. The three genin had lined up oddly according by height; starting from the tallest who was Sakura, then Saki who was a good two inches shorter than Sakura and then there was Naruko who stood three inches shorter than Saki. They stood there in wait. Patiently at first, but as the hours passed… so did their patience. By the fifth hour of waiting, their Genin's impatience and boredom was starting to show. Naruko had started drawing circles in the soil with a stick. Sakura was beginning to nod off. And even Saki was slowly but obviously impatiently tapping her foot on a mound of dirt.

"Yo Shokun. Ohayo…" Kakashi greeted them casually.

His patience long exhausted… ranking and strength be damned. "YOU'RE LATE!!!" Sakura yelled out.

"Well you see… There was this black cat that crossed my path so…" The masked sensei started making another one of his pathetic sounding excuses but the look on Naruko's, who had a small annoyed pout on her face, Saki's, who just let out and audible "humph…" before she looked away, and Sakura's, who was glared at him, faces made him decided to skip the excuse with a fake cough. Then said, "Well let's move on…"

He walks up to a small tree stump no taller than his knee, took out some things from his bag and placed a small alarm clock and set it to twelve o'clock. He then turned to his genin students and raised two silver bells in front of him, he allowed it too ring a little just to show them they were ordinary bells tied with a red string. "Your task is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't, will not have any lunch. And I'm going to tie you there, and eat lunch in front of you." He added as he pointed to one of the three larger tree trunks that had been cut and stuck in the ground.

The three genins looked at each other as if too assess each other's reaction to the task. Only Naruko seemed remotely upset with the lunch issue. Sakura's empty stomach almost seemed to have groaned once with the angry thought of being tricked into not eating breakfast. While Saki though annoyed held it in and believed she could surely get a bell and eat soon.

Then a sudden realization came to Sakura. "Wait a minute sensei, why are there only two bells?" he asked and hoped that their odd sensei had only forgotten to take out the third bell from his bag.

Kakashi smiled almost happy that he asked. "Since there's only two, at least one of you will be tied to the log. This is a test, and that person will fail since he failed to complete the mission. That person will go back to the academy… It may be just one or it could be all three of you."

That struck the three. They were surprised that they had to take another test after passing the exams at the academy… and the consequence of failing felt far worse this time compared to when it was back in the academy that Sakura shook. Saki gritted her teeth and tried to hold her tongue. And Naruko was already making her decision.

Sakura was about to open his mouth to make a big comment about it but was stopped before he could begin when he felt a small hand hold his wrist. He turned his head to the direction and saw Naruko stood behind him and Saki. "Naruko?"

But the blond didn't immediately answer him. Instead she turns towards her sensei and said, "Kakashi-sensei, can I have a word with them for a few moments."

The masked jounin raised a brow at his student's request immediately wondered what could be so important. But he soon nods to keep them from getting suspicious. He was good at hearing and reading conversations at a distance, so one such as theirs would be quite easy.

The three genins huddled up together turning away from their sensei. "What's wrong Naruko-chan?" Sakura immediately asked.

Naruko looked at Sakura then at Saki before she answered, "I want you two to get the bells."

"Eh?!" the cherry haired by almost yelled out.

"What's your motive?" Saki asked feeling suspicious of her teammate already.

But the blond genin just looked at her, smiled weakly and said, "I don't have the motivation the two of you have to be a ninja." She turned to Sakura first. "Sakura-sama, you have a dream of becoming a strong ninja to protect others."

Then she turned to Saki. "Uchiha-sama, I believe from what I understood from your introduction yesterday that you need to become a ninja to find someone?" she paused. And when she didn't say anything Saki nodded, in assumption she wasn't going to continue if she hadn't.

"As for me… I don't have a really good reason to be a ninja. The only one I could think of is so that I could be a ninja with the few friends I've started making. But it doesn't compare to your need to become a ninja. I can wait another year or two… I've stayed an extra three terms in the academy what is another." The blond said as she looked down on the ground, her tears fiercely head behind her eyes.

"But Naruko…" Sakura started to say something but was immediately cut off.

"Maybe… by then… I'll have found the reason that I have to be a ninja." she added. Her words stuck the two hard. Though still doubtful Saki decided to go along with them. She figured that if Naruko was going to betray her she was skilled enough to beat her and take the bells for herself.

Behind them, Kakashi had a smile underneath his mask. He was pleased with Naruko's willingness to sacrifice her genin rank to allow them to keep theirs and if she could actually make this team work together… there might be some hope for them. "Alright! Let's continue. You three don't have the luxury of time here." He said and interrupted their conversation as he figured he had given them enough time already.

The three turned to their sensei once again. He gave them a last minute instructions or instruction… "Attack to kill." He told them. Naruko visibly paled, obviously bothered by something he had said. Saki pondered his words and for now assumed that he was strong enough to keep the three of them at bay. Sakura on the other hand decided voiced out his concern. "But that would be dangerous sensei!"

Kakashi just looked at him with an impassive eye and said, "Don't worry about me. I've been through a lot and fought stronger opponents than you three." The cherry haired boy felt a little insulted but decided to keep it in. After all it was most likely the truth anyway… no matter how much he might hate it.

"Alright… are there any more questions?" he asked his students and watched them all look at one another before they shook their heads.

"In that case… ready…" he watched them crouch and get ready to make a dash and disappear when he said, "START!"

The three had run towards separate hiding spots at first. But Naruko's words made each look for the other. Naruko had left a few kage bunshins transformed as fox, a rat and a rabbit and ordered them to dispel one at a time if their teacher did something that required her attention, then she set off to find Saki and Sakura. The three had found each other in the forest a good distance away from the starting point and immediately ran over a plan of attack before they headed back towards the training grounds separately.

Minutes passed… and Kakashi looked around and noticed that the three had just recently found their hiding spots. Not that he knew where they were… but battle experience had a funny way of teaching a ninja's subconscious to be aware when one is being targeted.

To his surprise, he sensed and heard one of them walking out of his or her hiding place. He turned and saw Naruko walking towards him slowly. She stopped a good distance from him but close enough to hear each other if either wanted to speak.

"Naruko… You're supposed to be hiding and plotting how to bring about my demise." Kakashi said almost playfully.

He watched as Naruko looked down, slid her hands into the sleeve pockets of her kimono and kept her silence. It made Kakashi a bit anxious. He was informed that the girl had killed before, the slain might have been a ninja weaker than himself but the knowledge that she had experience killing meant that she was not an opponent that he couldn't seemly tease and smile at. Though she might not be able to kill him she might take him too seriously and he might overly underestimate her. To his surprise he was broken out of his thoughts when she spoke.

"…sensei." her call almost whispered.

"Hmmm? What is it?"

"Please… don't take dying and killing lightly…" there was a short awkward and almost painful pause before she found the will to finish, "…it really hurts." her words arrived to him somewhat murmured so that Sakura and Saki wouldn't overhear them.

The masked jounin's unhidden eye opened wide in surprise. His mind flashed the events of the night two weeks ago and quickly realized what she had meant. He smiled inside, for such a small girl to have a big, kind and wise heart… "Ah… yeah… sorry about that." he murmured back.

Naruko looked up again with a soft barely there sort of smile. "Iie… I apologize… I was out of line… sensei." she said in a louder, sounding a hint more confident and felt a little growing respect for her sensei.

The melancholic air that surrounded the both of them was soon dispersed when Kakashi felt her intent. It wasn't to kill, he was very familiar to the natures of a killing aura and wouldn't miss it this close, which he was honestly a little disappointed to learn but at least her intent was of a strong and determined feel of aggressive attack.

Her hands withdrew from her pockets. Kakashi eyed her carefully and wasted no time in registering as much detail as possible. He knew that there was something in her hands he could tell from the way her hands seemed stiff and still as she slowly took them out to assume a fighting stance. The question on his mind was, 'What is she holding?' Kakashi didn't even feel like taking out the book he had brought with him to read. Something was different about this girl compared to the other genins he's tested like this… aside from that secret detail of course.

Naruko waited, she knew that their skill difference was high. Her advantage for now was that her sensei didn't know her skill level… and though not really a big advantage she'll have to make it work in her first attack or her plan fails. Then her wait comes to an end. Kakashi blinked for a split second and in that time she used it to dash at him at an almost abnormal speed.

Kakashi's eye opened wide in surprise and narrowly dodges a punch thrown from behind. Naruko continued the assault and sent him punch after punch, kick, jab and chop in what nearly seemed like sloppy taijutsu. Kakashi kept silent during her attack, it as a form of psychological attack that made some opponents attack more ferociously when they see their enemy having an easy time. After a few minutes of dodging and blocking her attacks Kakashi is rewarded with the halt from the attack and seemingly worn out and winded look from the small girl.

"Was that it?" He taunted, his eye smiled at her teasingly.

The small blond panted and wheezed. Her brow visually sweaty from ever exerting herself… but she had a smile on her face.

To his surprise Kakashi felt the killing intent of the other two. Shurikens few by in almost all directions which made it quite tedious to dodge and catch them all, but he managed. Sakura sped up to attack with his kunai while Saki seemed ready to hurl more shurikens at him. He was about to dodge when… he felt a lot of bodies restraining him. He looked down and realized that there had been six clones of Naruko holding him. Two held his arms, another two held his legs, one held his waist and one held his back.

'Kage Bunshin?!' he immediately determined. He looked back towards where he last saw the one who he believed was the original and noted that see still stood where she was still trying to catch her breath.

Noticing his bewilderment, Naruko raised what seemed to be a strand of her hair. She drops it towards the ground but before it reaches the floor it disappears with a poof and is replaced by one of her kage bunshin, but unlike her weren't winded which lead Kakashi to believe she had made them prior confronting him head on. It didn't take a genius to figure out that her sloppy taijutsu might have been a cover for her to drop the henged kage bunshins on or around him.

"Sakura-sama, Uchiha-sama, Now!" the blonde audibly signaled them, sure that she couldn't hold Kakashi for much longer.

The two rushed in with an attack and swiftly scooped the bells from his waist where their sensei had hanged them. After taking a bell each, the two made a dash towards Naruko and took position behind her and her kage bunshin.

"Sensei! We got them." Sakura declared and held his bell up in and allowed it to ring. Kakashi just looked towards them looking quite more surprised than they expected that one would assume he was faking it.

But then, Naruko had exhausted herself and the kage bunshins disappeared with a poof one by one. She fell onto her hands and knees looking more exhausted than before. To Kakashi's surprise Sakura immediately dropped his bell and quickly moved his attention to Naruko. To his further surprise Saki returned her bell. But it wasn't until he realized that they had actually gotten the real bells rather than the Kawarimi bells that he had ready that he freely showed his surprise.

"Naruko-chan? Are you ok?" the boy asked worriedly as he checked her pulse and temperature.

"I…" the blond was about to say something when… "Guuurrrrrrrr!" Naruko's empty stomach made is outrage and emptiness known, loud and clear. The small blond blushed a little, but in her exhaustion she could do little to hide her shame.

Sakura did his best to hold his laughter, because he liked to think of himself as a gentleman and a gentleman doesn't laugh at a lady especially when she's down. The urge to laugh quickly died and he found himself picking the small girl up. 'she's so light…' he thought and missed the deepening blush on the girl's face.

Kakashi walked over to them and gestured his arms at Sakura telling him to hand him to her. The boy does so, gently passing her to his sensei's arms. He then carried the exhausted and famished girl towards the tree trunks, positioned her sitting on the ground with her back resting on the wood before he began to tie her up. Naruko had already accepted that fate before the test began and allowed her sensei to do so without a fight.

"Sensei, Why…" Sakura was about to voice out about his treatment of the poor girl when two bento boxes flew towards him. Thanking his reflexes were sharp enough to catch it he turns to his sensei again now with a second reason to get angry.

"I'll be back. Don't feed her... or else." He said blankly before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The cherry haired boy couldn't help but fume. He muttered some curse words and hurled them at their absent teacher. It wasn't until Naruko somehow regained enough energy to speak that he stopped.

"Sakura-sama… it's ok. I'll be fine." Her voice came out soft and weak.

Those words however weren't what Sakura wanted to hear. "How can you be so calm about it?! You're the one suffering here!"

But the blond girl just smiled and said, "It was my decision. I was ready for it."

The boy however didn't like it. "I know but…" he growled and fumed, scratching his head wild and roughly in frustration.

Saki walked towards him and took one of the bento box from his hand. "Just eat." She said uncaringly as she sat beside the tied up blond.

Sakura turned towards the raven haired girl, looked at her, with disbelief and surprised that he could actually feel angry at her. "How can you just sit there and eat while someone is hungry right there in front of you?"

The raven haired girl's response was to look at him… said, "like this.." and brought her chopsticks holding a small bundle of rice towards her mouth.

Naruko watched the exchange with good humor, her hunger almost forgotten as the warmth that spread and filled her when Sakura defended her. She smiled and turned to Sakura. "Sakura-sama. It's really ok. I'll regain my strength soon… I can last for a while. Once this test is over I'm sure Kakashi-sensei will let me go and get something to eat."

"Naruko…" Sakura muttered. His anger died out after she spoke... he sighed and sat on the opposite side of her still feeling quite annoyed that the girl he liked wasn't taking his side.

Unknown to them Saki was already lost deep in her thoughts. She wondered if this is something her brother meant when he said, "cling to life and survive even in the most unsightly of ways…" … would Naruko's sacrifice count as surviving in an unsightly way? Was taking her offer for the bell count as clinging to life? She was confused… for years her brother's teachers had always been true. She had learned more from him than her academy teachers back then.

Her hand unconsciously raised and reached for her left shoulder, where a deep scar was hidden underneath a fashionable bandage. There was an odd pain from it whenever she remembered her brother or whenever she thought of him too deeply.

She looked at Naruko who was just sat there trying to calm her growling stomach and wondered what made her decide to do this for them. If she had been her… three terms in the Academy would be embarrassing enough another term after failing a jounin's exam would be unbearable. And yet there she was; tied in a tree trunk, starving, tired and embarrassed by her own stomach. And yet she was smiling… which ignited Saki's curiosity.

"Naruko." she called her attention.

The blond immediately looked up and turned to her looking surprise as if she didn't realize that she knew her name. "Hai?..."

"I don't believe what you said earlier. Tell me… Why did you sacrifice the chance to pass for us?" Then before Naruko could say anything she added "And your exhausted act doesn't fool me… if you really wanted you could have both bells."

"EH?!" Sakura said surprised. "But her… she…"

Naruko blushed and looked away… "You might be right about getting both bells… but I really am tired." she said sounding very honest.

Saki eyed her and searched for anything that might indicate a lie… she found none. She let it pass for now. "Okay… say I believe that. Why didn't you get the bells for yourself or why not just worked with one of us?" she asked making sure her tone sounded very scrutinizing.

It confounded her why the blond girl's expression softened when it did. Then the Naruko said, "Because… I think of the two of you as my friends."

A wave of a warm inexplicable feeling washed over Saki's chest. For a moment, time seemed to stop and all she could see was the side of Naruko's face as her eyes looked at something far off.

'… Friends huh?' Saki inwardly said to herself.

"Ah! There's some dust in my eye!" The two girls turned to Sakura who was wiping his eyes, hiding the tears with a false annoyance towards the nonexistent pieces of dirt in his eyes.

Saki found herself smiling. She turned to Naruko, after scooping some rice and meat with her chopsticks and said, "Naruko. Eat."

Sakura and Naruko's reaction to that was of surprise, disbelief and alarm.

Naruko tried to protest by saying, "But! Sensei said…"

But she was immediately silenced, "I don't care. Eat!" the raven haired ordered as she held the food close to the blond girl's mouth, which still remained closed. Saki felt a bit annoyed by that and decided to pinch Naruko's nose, which forced her to open her mouth if she wanted to breathe. It took a while but Naruko did open her mouth and Saki instantly shoved food into her mouth.

Saki then turned towards Sakura who had his mouth agape and apparently a bit tongue tied. She pointed her chopsticks at him and said, "You… Feed her too."

It took him a few seconds to fully understand what she had just said. "Ah!... Sure." And with that… they took turns feeding Naruko, Saki would be the one to pinch the blond girl's nose forcing her to open her mouth and get feed while Sakura took most of the turns stuffing food in their tied up teammate's mouth.

"Uchiha-sama please… stop… we don't know what Kakashi-sensei will do to us if he sees you two feeding me." she said with difficulty as her mouth dodged the chopsticks.

To Naruko's and Sakura's surprise Saki stopped trying to feed her and placed her bento down on the ground. Sakura's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when the raven haired girl stuck her thumbs inside Naruko's mouth and pulled her cheeks causing great discomfort to the blond girl.

"It's Saki." she stated in a demanding tone.

"Eh?" was the only thing that came out of Naruko's mouth that sounded like a word.

"Don't call me Uchiha-sama… it's annoying. Understand?!" Saki added, as she gave the blond a threatening glare.

The blond mumbled something incoherently and nodded and was soon rewarded by Saki's fingers leaving her mouth and cheeks alone.

"Ouch… that was mean." Naruko muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?!" Saki said in a threatening voice.

Naruko inched away the tiny bit the ropes allotted her and said, "Nothing. Saki." Making sure to use what the raven haired girl had told her to call her to escape a continuation of her wrath.

"Good." The raven haired then wiped her hands before eating and feeding the still resisting blond.

After a while… Saki decided that she was taking up a hobby and it involved in the toying with the blond in ways not too different from what she was doing now. Even Sakura couldn't help but join in and forcefully fed the girl… almost unable to hide the small twitch of a smile in sadistic pleasure he got from seeing the girl fed against her will.

The three of them were so busy that the failed to notice the return of their sensei. "Ah… you fed her." He said with a deadpan expression.

Naruko would have jumped and screamed in surprise like her two teammates had she not been bound to the tree. "Sen-sei…" she muttered.

"You two know what would happen to you for disobeying me right?" he said sounding almost monotonous though still very threatening.

"Sensei, it's not their fault! I begged for food." Naruko lied.

"Oh?" Kakashi looked down towards the bound blond. He knew she was lying he was watching them from a far and heard everything said, but he decided to play along and check the reactions of the two.

"Yes. I was really hungry and…" she tried to add a small story into her lie to make him believe her, but before she could finish…

"I forced her to eat and I force Sakura to help me." Saki claimed and stood proud of what she said.

"No you didn't…" Sakura added, and said, "I was going to feed her anyway I was just trying to see if sensei wasn't around anymore."

Saki looked at him with hint of disbelief but let it pass and looked back towards their sensei who was giving them an unreadable look. Naruko had hung her head down… feeling depressed yet at the same time happy that her two friends had decided to throw her efforts to help her.

"I could fail you three you know…" he said with the same dull tone.

The three looked at each other for a moment and Saki said, "There's something I need to catch up back in the academy anyway." Pouted then turned her head away.

Sakura shrugged and said, "I don't mind going back for another term… what's one more time compared to Naruko's three. Can't you pass her instead Sensei?"

Naruko looked at Sakura for a moment. Their eyes connected for a moment and Sakura couldn't help but feel that he said something wrong. Then without thinking he added, "But if you don't…. its ok. I guess… I'll have to look after her some more from new bullies for the next academy term." He patted her head playfully as if she were a pet.

Kakashi looked down at the blond as if telling and waiting for her to say something.

Naruko noticed his gaze. She looked at her friends and teammates, swallowed to get rid of the anxiety she felt before she turned to her sensei again and sheepishly said, "After what they said… I'd really hate myself if I passed without them."

The masked jounin's hand raised to scratch his head turned around and said, "I see… well then I guess I have to…" he paused for a few seconds, intentionally trying to build some drama… something he learned from his readings, which always made life interesting for him. He then turned to them, all of them looking at each other… their eyes as if conversing and consoling each other silently saying that there was still the next term.

Feeling he had given them enough time to accept their premature failure. He finished his sentence, "…pass you all." and he said it with a very pleased smile.

The reactions of the three pleased Kakashi, all of them turned to him eyes wide in shock and disbelief. "Eh?..." they all muttered.

"You pass." he rephrased his sentence in two words and pointed at all three of them.

The shock and disbelief was still very fresh on the three. But Sakura soon found his bearings and asked, "Eh?! How?! Why?!"

"You three are the first. The people I had before were all blockheads who just listened to what I said. Ninjas need to think beyond the normal. In the world of ninjas, those who break the rules are scum." He paused for second and allowed them to digest his words before continuing, "But those who don't take care of their friends are even worse than scum." He looked at them; the smile in his eye was obvious. "You three know that… at the very least subconsciously."

He turned to Sakura and said, "Sakura, You care for these two… why that is, I'll still have to find out." The boy flushed and avoided the gaze of the two girls. "You're protective of Naruko and I'm sure if you had a chance I would have seen the same dedication towards Saki if not more."

Near the end of that sentence the cherry haired boy was scratching the side of his head, to hide his burning ear with his hand. He wanted to say something to affirm their sensei's complement on him. And probably reason that all this time he believed that Naruko had been a little weak and defenseless, so that Saki wouldn't think he was interested in the blond. But the way Kakashi had delivered his praise to him had felt quite odd in a good way and left him speechless.

Kakashi then turned to Naruko, "Naruko, needless to say you seem to have found good friends and have the will to do anything for them... overworking yourself, starve yourself, and even lie. It's a dangerous path for a ninja… it's almost a weakness…" The blond almost frowned before Kakashi could finish saying, "but you should know that the rewards it yields is usually more than worth it." and her almost frown turned it to a warm inspired smile.

Finally he turned to Saki, "Saki… from what I've read and heard about you, you didn't really have interest in friends." The raven haired girl looked away, trying to look blasé. "But you seem to have chosen the best time to start and I don't think you could do any better than these two. Consider yourself lucky."

Saki had considered rebuking him. Saying something that would put her in the light of whatever he saw her as again… but decided against it when she felt the tell tale warmth on her face. The other two had turned towards her somewhere during his speech but the raven haired girl's blush was only visible to Kakashi.

He watched as his first real students looked at each other, while trying not to look too embarrassed. He coughed to clear his throat and to get their attention. "This exam is over. Everyone passes. We will begin taking missions tomorrow."

The three looked at him and happily replied, "Yes sir!"

_**Team Seven (The End of Part One)**_

…_**to be continued.**_

_**Author's Notes:**_ I had partially rewritten some points and added more details here and there. If some seem to be still missing it'll be dealt with in the next part of the chapter.

Took a while for me to finalize who will be named what. I decided that at the very least I should use the same starting letter with each and everyone's names. Ino's was the hardest to decide on XD I didn't want to break the Ino-Shika-Chou thing.

I decided to separate this story in to three… mainly because it would reach 30k words or even more had I didn't, making it even more a pain to proofread.

Translations:

(1)"Omae" means "You" used when one is very familiar or friendly with one or to call one in a rude way.

(2)"Yo Shokun. Ohayo…" Kakashi's famous (at least I think it is…) line from episode 4. Literally means "Yo Gentlemen. Good Morning…" I originally wanted to write "Yo Ladies and Gentleman." But when I learned that Shokun also means "Ladies" I've decided to stick with the Japanese translation… for a little anime feel and it just seemed lot cooler that way.

If anyone sees any errors… kindly pm me about it, the whole thing was so long I didn't have it in me to proofread it more than once. Many thanks in Advance.

_**Please Review!**_


End file.
